Also: Op/eds on Governor’s intervention keep coming…
As is often the case, when the news is coming hot and heavy, some important stories can get put on the back burner. That was the case with a letter from the sustainable food/organic farm legend Swanton Berry Farm of California that arrived at the CIW just days before last month’s meeting with Governor Crist.
Like thousands of letters and emails from across the country at the time, the Swanton Berry Farm letter specifically called on Gov. Crist to take a stand against slavery here in Florida. But its message was much broader than that and deserves to be heard now that the dust has settled in Tallahassee. Here’s an excerpt:
“… Swanton Berry Farm’s philosophy has always been that producing the highest quality and best-tasting fruits and vegetables requires respecting the rights of the workers who grow them. Towards this end we have worked to ensure that workers have an active voice in the workplace and they are compensated fairly for their labor…
… At Swanton Berry Farm, we have discovered that these measures provide the basis for a socially responsible and economically sound business model. Since signing the union contract, the company has expanded its market substantially. While our labor costs may be higher than many other agricultural employers, we realize a return on this investment in the form of high quality produce and satisfied customers. Our experience provides evidence that commercial success need not come at the expense of those who perform the critical work of planting, maintaining, and harvesting our crops.”
You can learn more about Swanton Berry Farm and how they have implemented that philosophy in their operation here. Clearly, there’s a lesson here — a potentially very profitable lesson — for any Florida tomato grower willing to think outside the box. But as the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water…
Meanwhile, two more powerful opinion pieces came out since our last update. You can read them here:
Bill Maxwell, St. Peterburg Times
- “Governor needs to take the lead on worker justice,” Jim Goodman (organic dairy farmer and Kellogg Food and Society fellow), Ft. Myers News-Press.
Like the midwestern family farmer he is, Jim Goodman closes his op/ed with some straight-shooting advice for Florida’s tomato growers: “The growers must allow the increased wages to reach the workers; the growers are accountable for the working conditions in their fields. Abuse and slavery in Florida will end only when the growers recognize that public opinion is against their plantation mentality.”