Food justice delegation to Immokalee “highlights the staunch refusal of Florida’s largest corporation, Publix supermarkets… to put their weight behind supporting this historic partnership“

Earlier this week, leaders in the sustainable food and food justice movements converged on Immokalee for a special delegation organized by Just Harvest USA. For writers, chefs, and farmers alike, the gathering was a powerful opportunity to highlight, once again, the importance of respect for farmworkers’ fundamental human rights in any meaningful definition of a sustainable food system.

The delegation was comprised of Raj Patel, author of “Stuffed and Starved”; Ben Burkett, President of the National Family Farm Coalition; Nina Fallenbaum, Food and Agriculture Editor at Hyphen Magazine;; Rebecca Wiggins-Reinhard of La Semilla Food Center; Kandace Vallejo from the Workers Defense Project (and longtime Student/Farmworker Alliance member); Greg Baker, chef and owner of the Tampa Refinery; Navina Khanna, co-founder of Live Real; Andy Fisher, co-founder of the Community Food Security Coalition; and Abby Rogosheske of the Institue for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

The highlights of the visit were most certainly the delegations to a Publix in Naples as well as a nearby Wendy’s. The Ft. Myers News-Press picked up on the action, and gave this account of the first few moments at Publix:

Within minutes, sustainable food activists, writers and Florida farmers and chefs were asked to leave Publix Supermarkets at The Shoppes at Pebblebrooke off Immokalee Road in Naples.The hot-button word: Tomatoes.

Raj Patel, author of “Stuffed and Starved”, asked to speak to the store’s manager as a member of a delegation in support of the Coalition of Immokalee Worker’s (CIW) Fair Food Program, a partnership between a bulk of Florida’s tomato growers, major retailers and farmworkers to improve working conditions for farmworkers.” read more >>

In fact, no sooner had Raj Patel said the word “tomato” than the manager became visibly agitated and escorted the delegation out of the store lobby (pictured below). Outside, she wouldn’t let the delegation get a word in edgewise, demanding that they leave the property immediately. In a light-hearted interpretation of the moment, Raj reflected on his Twitter account that perhaps if he had said “to-may-toes,” without his native British accent, the visit might have been better received.

After three days of firsthand investigation, in conversation with both workers and growers, Raj and the rest of the delegation came to see what Publix so steadfastly ignores: namely, that the Fair Food Program is the most advanced social responsibility program in US agriculture today. At this point, Publix staunch refusal to join the Fair Food Program is simply unacceptable. And as a handful of delegation members prepare to return next month for the March for Rights, Respect and Fair Food, that is exactly the message that will be carried 175 miles from Ft. Myers to Lakeland.