For people who say the organic food and farming story has been told, or that the label has lost credibility, Harvesting Justice has a crucial reminder. Pointing to the spate of articles on organic and sustainable food coming out of the NYT, including one titled Is a Food Revolution Now in Season, blogger Barb Howe writes:
This is the part of the organic story that has not been told. And it’s crucial to tell it, because farm work is tough work, and, heck, if we’re going to talk about food revolutions, U.S. farm workers have been pushing for a real change in how food gets to our plates since the early-1960′s, addressing pesticide poisoning among farmworkers and better working conditions for the people who harvest our food.
Indeed, US farmworkers have actually been telling a different part of the organic story for some time. It’s just that many in the organic industry have not wanted to listen. Or carry that story forward.
While IFOAM (an international body of organic agriculture movements) has had standards for creating social justice standards, farmworkers have been traditionally edged out of the organic, slow food, and sustainable food discussions. The reason fo rthis is obvious — to compete in the marketplace with an already "premium" product, talking about paying more money for farm labor was mostly out o fthe question. Social justice standards were floated for the national organic standards, but never seriously considered, and the same has been true as far back as the seventies when California ag justice proponents repeatedly brought up farm worker justice, only to drop it before a every new set of standards could be finalized. In 2006, a UC-SAREP study concluded "that, at best, halfhearted support exists for social certification within organic agriculture in California."
In short, business as usual on organic farms.
Personally, I’d go so far as to call it a "culture of defiance" toward farmworkers within the organic community. One of my first employers in the "organic world" was a department manager of a promiment natural foods store who enjoyed telling the story of how he’d argued with Cesar Chavez, toe-to-toe, when the founder of the UFW came asking for the store’s support for the grape boycott. At issue? Whether organic grapes should be sold in the store. "I’ll never boycott organic food," my former boss bragged that he’d told Chavez.
So this conflict is part of the history of the organic industry/movement and its relationship with farmworkers (for more on this, read this excellent Grist article from a couple years back). Personally, I come from a different generation of sustainable foodie, I guess — do organic farmers and the workers who work those farms really need to be in mutually exclusive camps? Fair Trade, after all, is just the yes to a boycott’s no, and it’s been proven that there’s a place for Fair Trade and organics in America’s grocery stores. (Indeed, the Fair Trade Apple campaign would have been a huge success, had it managed to get off the ground. I remember hearing that the UFW’s Fair Trade label would have shown a gold instead of black eagle on its stickers. How cool would that have been to see in your local co-op?) I mean, isn’t organic production ultimately a labor issue, with a safer work environment for workers on our farms? Isn’t it obvious that "sustainability" should encompass this?
I think it’s happening. I get labeled as a cynic around here, but I do believe we’re heading into uncharted waters in this country, with more money flowing toward organics and sustianability than we’ve ever seen before — whether it comes from a sustainable-food-friendly USDA, a revamped Farm Bill in 4 years, or, more immediately, from grants for "shovel ready" projects in the Obama stimulus package. And the possibilities are intriguing. Billions have been set aside for "no legislation necessary" projects that will create jobs, spark growth, and provide a green dividend to communities, and that sounds a lot like organic farming and food production to me.
So one wonders if there are initiatives right now that would not only create organic farming jobs, but jobs that pay good wages to farmworkers. Is this on anyone’s radar? Has anyone been hearing anything along these lines?
In any event, on the commemoration of Cesar Chavez’s birthday, this would be a very good time for consumers to make their expectations known in the grocery aisle: Where is the organic Fair Trade produce?
* Speaking of Chavez, there’s a drive to create a National Cesar Chavez Holiday on March 31. The UFW is planning events to celebrate Chavez’s legacy all this week.
