They marched to end modern day slavery in the agricultural fields
March 21, 2023 – By Eileen Kelley and Andrea Melendez/WGCU Investigative Team
They came to America in search of a better life. The work in the agricultural fields of Florida they knew would be tough. But it was much worse than that. And so they spoke out during a 50-mile march.
They gathered in Pahokee near an old inn where not too long ago people who looked like them were held captive at night behind locked gates strung with barbed wire.
It was a Tuesday when the crowd of mostly current and former farmworkers marched down the agricultural roads through the belly of Florida.
After 12 miles they stopped. Picking up where they left off the next morning.
As they got closer to the group’s final destination on the island of Palm Beach, the energy grew.
Along the way, the curious had questions, some eager to learn more about the Fair Food Program, a decade-long initiative where major retailers agree to only do business with growers who provide the farmworkers with humane working conditions.
Under the agreement the growers must allow a Fair Food worker to come to the farms and camps and inform the workers of their rights. The growers must also allow for routine inspections where workers can freely tell investigators about the working conditions. If the growers won’t adhere to these guidelines, the retailers must agree to take their business elsewhere.
The retailers must also agree to pay an additional one penny per pound for tomatoes they are buying. This money then comes back to the farmworker in the form of a bonus.
A produce truck led the way from rural roads over a bridge surrounded by yachts and mansions. Jimmy Cliff’s upbeat Reggae Song, “You can get it if you really want” plays in the background as a man blars into the a microphone that modern-day slavery still very much exists fields not associated with the fair food program.
His words are a reason they march.
