As this week’s firsthand voices from the fields shows, since the inception of the Fair Food Program over a decade ago in Immokalee, two parallel worlds have existed side-by-side within US agriculture: the world of freedom from abuse on farms under the FFP, and the world of harsh exploitation outside its protections.
Inside the world of the Fair Food Program, workers have the power and the tools to be the frontline monitors of their own rights. Outside the Program, farmworkers are subjected to a litany of human rights abuses, including sexual harassment and abuse, wage theft, and modern-day slavery.
The hope of the Fair Food Program is that it eventually expands to cover all farmworkers across the US and beyond. And with our historic growth in the coming months to 13 new states, it is clear our movement is gaining steam. But despite our advances, and the transformative impact the FFP has had on tens of thousands of farmworkers’ lives, our work is not done.
The majority of farmworkers in the US remain outside the protections of the Fair Food Program. To help bring them in, we need your help. By giving $10 each month, you could help fuel the expansion of the Program even further, and guarantee that US agriculture, which for centuries has relied on the exploitation of farmworkers, can finally enter a new day.
To round out this week’s push for our Sustainers program, we want to share this message from CIW co-founder Lucas Benitez, who reflects on the 30 years of unparalleled success within the Coalition, and the urgent importance of expanding the worker-driven Fair Food Program as far and wide as possible.