“The Coalition’s Fair Food Program essentially created a new model for agricultural labor...” OP/ED in United Press International: “Europe should follow Florida’s example for how to treat farmworkers…” Dean of Pardee/RAND Graduate School, Susan Marquis: “The Coalition’s Fair Food Program essentially created a new model for agricultural labor and corporate social responsibility – and transformed the tomato fields from Florida to New Jersey… … As Florida’s tomato farms show, it’s possible to transform European agriculture from a situation rife with exploitation to one that benefits every partner.” Over the past several years, the trickle of bleak headlines emerging from farm fields in Italy and Spain has turned into a torrent, laying bare the growing human rights crisis faced by the women and men, largely migrant, who labor to harvest Europe’s strawberries, tomatoes, and other crops in all-too-often horrific conditions. Despite Europe’s reputation for relatively higher, more evolved labor and human rights standards – and public commitment to enforcement of those standards – the crisis on the continent has experts around the world searching for answers. And yesterday, yet again, one of those experts has turned to Immokalee, identifying the Fair Food Program as a proven model with the potential to transform life in the fields for Europe’s millions of migrant workers (adding one more voice to the very long line of organizations and human rights leaders – from the United Nations, the OSCE, the British Academy, and the European Union Horizon 2020 Project – who have called for the FFP’s implementation in Europe). Just yesterday, the Dean of the Pardee RAND Public Policy School (and author of the definitive history of the CIW and the FFP, I am not a Tractor), Susan Marquis, published a compelling case in United Press International (UPI) for exporting the FFP to Europe. Her Op/Ed, titled “Europe should follow Florida’s example for how to treat farmworkers”, is a powerful reminder of the unique, proven power of the Fair Food Program to remedy – and ultimately prevent – longstanding human rights violations in agriculture. At the same time, it underscores the fact that no matter the context – be it European fields in the 21st century or greenhouses in the United States – it is never advisable to assume that conditions are somehow modern, safe, or fair in the produce industry. Agriculture is agriculture, and agriculture is historically rife with labor exploitation, whatever the setting. Here, below, is Susan’s piece in full. And stay tuned in the months ahead, as we continue to monitor developments in European agriculture and conversations around expansion of the Fair Food Program continue to evolve: Europe should follow Florida’s example for how to treat farmworkers Sept. 5 (UPI) — Thousands of seasonal strawberry pickers in Spain are women from Morocco on temporary visas. To supply markets in the United Kingdom and elsewhere with fresh berries, they work 12-hour shifts in overheated greenhouses, live in overcrowded rooms and according to lawsuits, some were victims of human trafficking, sexual assault and rape. In Turkey, the Syrian refugees who pick most of the world’s hazelnuts live in roadside plastic tents and get paid with IOUs until the end of harvest. Child labor is common. In Southern Italy, the mafia recruits African migrants directly from shelters to labor in citrus or tomato fields. Gangmasters then seize whatever identity documents they have and threaten violence against them if they leave. Those at the bottom of the agricultural supply chain are vulnerable to horrible abuse — slavery, at the extreme. But the same was true in the tomato fields of Florida in the United States until not too many years ago — and the solution developed there may offer a roadmap for doing right by those who put food on the market shelves... Read the full OP/ED over at the CIW’s website! Coalition of Immokalee Workers (239) 657 8311 | [email protected] | www.ciw-online.org Connect with us ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ A copy of the CIW's official registration and financial information may be obtained from the Florida Division of Consumer Services by calling toll-free 1-800-HELP-FLA (435-7352). Registration does not imply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by the state. The website for the Florida Division of Consumer Services is [link removed] Coalition of Immokalee Workers | 110 S 2nd St, Immokalee, FL 34142 Unsubscribe [email protected] About Constant Contact Sent by [email protected] in collaboration with Try email marketing for free today!