The Campaign for Fair Food

photo of farmer carrying bushel of tomatoesThe Campaign for Fair Food calls upon major food buyers to end poverty and modern slavery in the Florida fields by working in partnership with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a human rights award-winning farmworker organization in Immokalee, FL. The Campaign is supported by religious, human rights, student and sustainable food organizations across the nation.

The Campaign for Fair Food has been successful in achieving landmark agreements between the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and some of the largest food corporations in the world: Yum! Brands (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and others), McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Whole Foods Market, Bon Appétit, and food service providers Compass Group, Aramark, and Sodexo.

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“Business as usual has condemned our sisters and brothers who labor in the fields to suffer needlessly. But there is another way.” – from the Southern California Religious Leaders Sign-on Letter to Trader Joe’s CEO Dan Bane
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These agreements are changing the very structure of the food system so that it ensures the well-being of the men and women who harvest. These large buyers are paying a net penny per pound increase to farmworkers who harvest tomatoes for their suppliers, counteracting the downward pressure food buyers’ high volume/low cost purchasing has had on wages and working conditions. Through fair food agreements with the CIW, willing buyers and over 90 percent of the Florida growers are, right now, implementing a strict code of conduct, a cooperative complaint resolution system, a participatory health and safety program, and a worker-to-worker education process.

Through the Campaign for Fair Food, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has joined with the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and many other faith bodies to work side-by-side with the CIW farmworkers toward a more sustainable and just food system. The Presbyterian Hunger Program fosters Presbyterian participation in the Campaign across the nation.

photo from protest of Trader Joe'sCall on Publix, Kroger, and Ahold supermarkets to sign fair food agreements with the CIW

Learn more about the Campaign for Fair Food, Conditions in the Fields, and the PC(USA)’s participation

Learn more about the Coalition of Immokalee Workers

Read about the human rights advances achieved through the Campaign for Fair Food

Read about how the Campaign for Fair Food is addressing modern slavery in the fields (Slavery and the Food We Eat, CIW)

 

 

photo of noelle damico

The Rev. Noelle Dam­ico is the Asso­ciate for Fair Food within the Pres­by­ter­ian Hunger Pro­gram, where she assists Pres­by­te­ri­ans in edu­ca­tion and action that ensure food, human rights and just social rela­tion­ships. She facil­i­tates the denomination’s involve­ment in the Cam­paign for Fair Food, our part­ner­ship effort with the Coali­tion of Immokalee Work­ers to advance human rights and socially respon­si­ble pur­chas­ing in the food indus­try, and sits on the Gen­eral Assem­bly Mis­sion Coun­cil human traf­fick­ing round­table. A pub­lished author of bib­li­cal, the­o­log­i­cal and litur­gi­cal resources, she is a con­trib­u­tor to the new “Preaching God’s Transforming Justice” lec­tionary com­men­tary, pub­lished in August 2011 by Westminster/John Knox.  She is mar­ried to the Rev. Jef­frey Geary, pas­tor of White Plains Pres­by­ter­ian Church and they live with their five year old son, August Xavier, in White Plains, New York.

One Response to The Campaign for Fair Food

  1. Patrick David Heery says:
    November 16, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    A friend told me about a group called “Big Table” after reading this post. Their mission statement reads: “Big Table exists to create community around shared meals for those in the restaurant and hospitality industry and offer practical and personal support to those in the industry who are struggling, falling through the cracks, or in transition.” Their website is http://www.big-table.com/.

    Furthermore, they write, “At each dinner we ask guests to suggest friends in the industry that we might either invite to a future meal or surprise with care. We have helped fix cars, pay medical bills, provide furniture, send flowers, arrange vacations, and much more. The goal is the meet real needs without any strings attached.”

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