Grist.org article highlights power, logic of alliance between farmworkers, family farmers!

Farmers and farmworkers are most often portrayed as locked in mortal battle, their interests diametrically opposed, their conflict eternal and insoluble. And while that dynamic has driven some dramatic organizing struggles over the years — from Delano, CA, to Immokalee, FL — a new analysis of the relationship between the two primary human forces that produce our food is slowly emerging. This new analysis finds more common ground between farmers and farmworkers than conflict, particularly in the context of the modern food system controlled from the top by multi-billion dollar, retail food giants.

The advances won in the first two full seasons of the CIW’s Fair Food Program are a concrete example of the benefits possible when the old swords are beaten into plowshares and traditional conflicts turned to new partnerships. But perhaps nowhere is this commonality of interests clearer than in the case of small, family farmers and farmworkers, both of whom find their labor increasingly squeezed by the unprecedented buying power of the consolidated purchasers in today’s food market.

This past week, WhyHunger’s Siena Chrisman produced an exceptional piece on Grist.orgexploring this growing alliance between small farmers and farmworkers, with a focus on the efforts of long-time CIW ally and former Executive Director of Food for Maine’s Future, Bob St. Peter — a figure many of you may remember from this spring’s March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food (Bob is pictured above, with family, speaking at the rally on the final day of the march).

While we encourage you to check out the article in full, we wanted to share at least an extended excerpt:

Strengthening the food chain: Farmers and workers unite, find power in numbers

“…Bob points to a ‘frontline of people who want to feed the world’ rebuilding that infrastructure from scratch — new farmers like himself, farmers and fishers from old families who fear they will be the last to work the land or the sea, farmworkers and food workers putting in long hours to feed their families. They face many of the same problems — but as often as not, they are divided against each other. Farmers facing rising costs of fertilizer or equipment look for savings by cutting workers’ wages; farmworkers are under such pressure from farm owners to meet a production quota that they feel they cannot take breaks without fear of losing their jobs.

What if instead they worked together?  Farmers coming together with farmworkers, sharing lessons learned about how to transform their industry and hold major corporations accountable. Farmers and food-industry workers talking to consumers about the economic and policy issues shaping the system — and encouraging them to vote with their political power as well as with their fork.

It was with this goal in mind that Bob, Juli, and their two daughters hit the road in March for the Farm Labor Reality Tour. For Bob, it was imperative to connect with farm laborers, learn about their struggles and see their achievements firsthand, and strategize with them on opportunities for solidarity. The family traveled from Maine to the Midwest to meet with dairy farmers from Wisconsin-based Family Farm Defenders, and then to Florida to participate in the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ two-week, 200-mile March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food…” read more

The article goes on to describe the St. Peter-Perry family’s remarkable journey across the country and across the food system — a journey that stretched from the dairy farms of Wisconsin to the fields, and streets, of Florida. It also chronicles the deepening relationship between Food for Maine’s Future and the CIW, beginning with Bob’s decision to join us for the six-day fast outside Publix headquarters in 2012 to FMF’s hosting of the CIW in Maine last August for the launch of an ongoing effort to build community between migrant blueberry pickers and small farmers, the highlight of which was a wildly successful gathering around a table full of delicious, locally-grown food, with, in the article’s words, “food as both necessary nourishment and as a tool for broader strategizing and organizing.”

The most recent chapter in that particular history, of course, was the 200-mile march earlier this year from Ft. Myers to Lakeland, during which Bob, Juli and their two girls played an invaluable role, not only representing family farmers, but filling the march every day with their unique spirit of love and untiring commitment to justice. In honor of that most recent visit, we’ve brought out a bonus March video of Bob’s final reflection at the 200 mile marker, Publix Headquarters:

And the story of this alliance-in-action certainly doesn’t stop there! Plans for a CIW extended return trip to Maine this summer are already in the works…

We’ll give Bob the last word, from the must-read grist.org article:

“The 6,500 miles of the Farm Labor Reality Tour shone a bright light on the harsh realities of a system that lets consumers pay 79 cents a pound for chicken without knowing about all the exploitation that goes along with it. ‘We need a new direction for the food movement,’ Bob says. ‘We need to figure out how we’re going to address human rights and fair wages, so that the people who are providing basic foods for our country can have a decent, good life.’

The CIW march and the connections made on the tour make clear who will lead the way. ‘As farmworkers, food workers, and family farmers, we have a natural affinity,’ Bob says. ‘And once we all get together, we’re unstoppable.’” read more