Watch the trailer for the upcoming "Food, Inc. 2," featuring the CIW and the Fair Food Program as a model solution to our nation's broken food system!
The much-anticipated sequel to the Oscar-nominated 2008 documentary "Food, Inc." recently premiered at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival. "Food, Inc. 2" provides an in-depth analysis of the US food chain – from the factory farms squeezing workers at the very bottom of the industry to the corporate behemoths squeezing suppliers to their breaking point at the very top.
The story of the CIW's struggle for dignity in agricultural work is brilliantly told by the CIW’s own Gerardo Reyes Chavez, himself a farmworker for nearly two decades. Through extended interveiws, Gerardo walks the viewer through the Campaign for Fair Food, the birth of the Presidential Medal-winning Fair Food Program in 2011, and the urgent need to expand this worker-driven program as far and wide as possible today. With an eye to practical, proven solutions to the food system's many ills, "Food, Inc. 2" champions the Fair Food Program as the answer to preventing forced labor and other extreme abuses in farmwork, with a long and documented track record of results. The acclaimed documentary even names those major food giants who have refused to join despite all evidence that it would both greatly benefit workers in their supply chains and be good for business: Wendy’s, Publix, and Kroger.
For the millions of consumers who will watch the documentary once it is released in theaters nationwide later this year, "Food Inc, 2" is an excellent entrypoint into the tireless efforts of farmworkers and allies alike to join forces in the fight for a more modern, more humane food system. For growers concerned for the safety of their workforce, the documentary is an opportunity to learn about the only documented solution in the world of agricultural certification programs, a landscape otherwise littered with countless audit-only schemes that charge growers dearly for their services but fail miserably to protect them and their crews from the human rights risks so rampant in US agriculture today. And for buyers, it is a clarion call to get on the right side of history by joining the FFP, and to stop propping up the long-discredited model of corporate social responsiblity that relies on woefully inadquate, voluntary mechanisms to monitor conditions in their suppliers' operations and so leaves them open to unchecked reputational harm as prosecution after prosecution for modern-day slavery and other extreme abuses flow from their supply chains and tarnish their brands.
We’ll keep you updated about when the film will release widely, but in the meantime, check out the trailer and an excerpt from a write-up of the movie below, To help promote the film, Pan Cooke, a talented artist focused on social justice, illustrated a short comic telling the story of the CIW and the FFP, and we are overjoyed to share that with you as well.
Enjoy!
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Stand with farmworkers on September 27 for a virtual action to demand Kroger join the Fair Food Program! Action alert! Calling all members of the Fair Food Nation! A year ago the notorious crewleader of Los Villatoros’ harvesting company, Bladimir Moreno, pleaded guilty to the federal charge of conspiracy to commit forced labor. Under Moreno, more than a dozen workers were held in forced labor, compelled to harvest watermelon as well as other fruits and vegetables that ended up on our kitchen tables. In a shocking revelation, the US Department of Labor named the supermarkets that profited from this abuse – […]
Montrose Daily Press: “The [Fair Food Program] provides workers with a means of making complaints, which has led to people speaking out against abuses…” CIW’s Leo Perez: “The basis of this program is that workers have the information and the tools they need to actually implement and apply their rights in the place of work.” From its humble roots in the tomato fields of Florida, the Fair Food Program has grown to cover a dozen crops in ten states and three countries, and we are proud to share the news that the FFP now covers sweet corn in Colorado! Our […]
The Invading Sea: “A solution is hiding in plain sight on farms in the supply chains of major corporations participating in the Fair Food Program” This summer has brought deadly heat across much of the world, including regions in the southern hemisphere that are supposed to be experiencing winter. And with the rising heat and climate instability comes compounding dangers for all those who must work outdoors, including farmworkers. Not only does this represent a systemic human rights crisis, but it is a crisis that is largely preventable. The CIW and its partners within the FFP, recognizing the need to […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Fair Food Program’s heat illness standards are saving farmworkers’ lives amidst record-shattering summer temperatures Professor Susan Marquis, Princeton University, op/ed in Miami Herald on FFP heat illness standards: “The Fair Food Program’s heat illness prevention standards already are proven. Crews are staying hydrated and safe. As one farmworker reported, “We can do more than improve day-to-day health and safety conditions. We can prevent a father or mother, a daughter or son, from losing their lives.’” IMMOKALEE, FL – As scorching summer temperatures endanger the lives of farmworkers across the nation, and at least two farmworkers in South […]
Dr. Susan Marquis, Miami Herald: “Farmworkers in the Fair Food Program have developed heat-illness standards and protocols that already are in place on farms from Florida to New Jersey, reaching west through Tennessee and Colorado, and into California.” Farmworker protected by the FFP: “We can do more than improve day-to-day health and safety conditions. We can prevent a father or mother, a daughter or son, from losing their lives.” This commentary was written by Dr. Susan L. Marquis, who is a visiting professor and lecturer at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. She is the author of I Am […]
Financial Times: “The ‘worker-driven social responsibility’ pilot would ensure minimum standards around wages, rest and grievance procedures.” Mike Park, head of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association, to the Financial Times: “Park said he hoped the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the programme could be agreed by the end of 2023, with a view to launching it next year. If successful, the scheme could be replicated across the UK.” Investigation: “A fisherman is six times more likely to die at work than those in the most dangerous job on land…” In September of last year, the CIW and the International Transport Workers […]
Join the movement for Fair Food as an intern with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers! Today, we invite the Fair Food Nation to help us spread the word that we are looking for interns for this coming Fall! As we look toward the future and the growth of the Fair Food Program, it is time to expand our team down here in Immokalee – and we know our network of stalwart allies will help us find great candidates. We need passionate, driven individuals more than ever, committed to following the leadership of farmworkers and helping to build a […]
The CIW Education Team leads a worker-to-worker education session, an integral part of the Fair Food Program, on a participating farm in Florida earlier this year. “The American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law has awarded the 2022 Frances Perkins Public Service Award to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) for its vital decades-long fight for the dignities of agricultural workers and its impact on harnessing legal and market forces to bring about change.” ALSO… From the Oak Foundation: “The Fair Food Programme (FFP) has succeeded in implementing reforms in Florida and nine additional states, that have eradicated the […]
Release: “UM awards the Wallenberg Medal to those who, through their actions and personal commitment, perpetuate Wallenberg’s extraordinary accomplishments and human values, and demonstrate the capacity of the human spirit to stand up for the helpless, to defend the integrity of the powerless, and to speak out on behalf of the voiceless.” “Notable medal recipients over the past 30 years include Archbishop Desmond Tutu… John Lewis [and] Elie Wiesel.” For his lifelong dedication to the human rights of farmworkers, and his historic achievements in helping to liberate thousands of farmworkers from modern-day slavery, CIW co-founder Lucas Benitez will be awarded the […]
Gerardo Reyes Chavez, CIW in the Cincinnati Enquirer: “This latest horrific case of modern-day slavery in Kroger’s supply chain is a wake-up call… Tainted with forced labor in its supply chain twice in two years, Kroger’s record of social irresponsibility defies belief.” “Given Kroger’s outsized presence in the retail economy, it is long past time for them to join the Fair Food Program, take on the great responsibility that comes with great power, and address the urgent human rights crisis in its supply chain by joining the Fair Food Program.” For over a decade, while the Fair Food Program […]