Do you know where your food comes from? How about who your food comes from? If fresh tomatoes are part of your diet, you'll probably have a chance to meet the folks who pull them off the vine. And if you're really on a health kick, you can march 25 miles alongside them this weekend, from downtown Tampa all the way to Lakeland.
The destination of the April 16th-18th march is the corporate headquarters of Publix. The supermarket chain is the latest target of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a South Florida based collective of tomato-pickers, who have mounted several successful campaigns for higher wages and better working conditions in the fields.
The Mexican, Guatemalan and Haitian farm workers led a successful boycott of Taco Bell, which ended in 2005, when the chain's parent company, Yum Brands, agreed to pay a penny more for every pound of tomatoes picked. Since then Subway, McDonalds and Burger King followed suit. (See CL story "Farm Workers Get a Whopper of a Win," June 4, 2008). With the four largest fast food corporations in the world heeding their protest, the workers then took their "Campaign for Fair Food' to the food service industry, reaching agreements with Aramark and Bon Appetit.
Now come the supermarkets. Publix, with more than 1,000 stores throughout the Southeast U.S., was an obvious target.
"The focus on Publix came because they are based here in Florida," says Gerardo Reyes Chavez, a tomato picker and organizer with the CIW.
The CIW wants Publix to make the same concessions as all the other chains — a raise of a penny-per-pound for tomatoes picked, and a code of conduct specifying the won't buy from growers that don't meet basic working conditions in the fields.
The first supermarket to agree to the CIW's demands was Whole Foods, and they did so quickly. That's no surprise, says Chavez, since the chain has a reputation for organic, environmentally responsible food.
"People who buy at Whole Foods are interested in products that are better for the environment; small farms, fair trade, all of these things … The campaign for fair food to started to see a melding with what is called the movement for sustainable food."
Whole Foods spokesperson Libba Letton says knowledge about a product's supply chain has always been important to their company's identity.
"We want to know the people who are making our food, or who are growing our food," Letton says.
Indeed, healthy and organic shoppers have an almost comical reputation for asking numerous questions about the origin of the foods they eat. But that inquiry is often limited to the location, growing processes and maybe the name of a family farm. The people who physically pick the vegetables out of the ground aren't key to the organic marketing scheme.
The concept of 'Fair Trade' takes the idea of responsible food one step further.
"When you say organic, I think people have a really good idea that it's good for them." says Stacy Geagan Wagner, who works with TransFair USA, a group that certifies fair trade products that come from overseas and are sold in the US.
"When you look at Fair Trade, well, what does that mean?"
"What we want people to know is that it's not only good for them, because it's a high-quality product, but we've met strict social, economic and environmental standards."
Meeting those standards hasn't been easy. Even after Whole Foods agreed to give the tomato pickers a raise, they still had trouble finding a South Florida grower that was willing to pass that penny on to the workers. That's because of a 2007 policy instituted by the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, an industry co-operative that until this past February, was standing in the way of the CIW's effort, by fining its members for participating.
But with Whole Foods came a breakthrough in June of 2009: Two organic tomato growers agreed to pass on the penny-per-pound, Palm Beach County's Alderman Farms and Lady Moon Farms in Punta Gorda.
As with organic and pesticide-free food, cost is a barrier. Fair trade products sell much better in cities and to affluent customers, where people are willing and able to pay more. And at stores like Whole Foods, the items certified as fair trade are usually limited to coffees, teas, chocolates, flowers and artesinal products like cheese.
But that's starting to change.
"The growing trend is for companies in the United States to introduce mass consumers to fair trade products." says Wagner
Even Wal-Mart now carries some fair trade products, and "fair-trade" campaigns by the likes of Starbucks are reaching beyond the activist set and into Middle America. While TransFair USA has been certifying Coffee and tea for more than a decade, lately they're certifying more products like cocoa, fresh fruits and vegetables. (As they only certify imported products, Florida tomatoes aren't eligible.) Even more exciting, says Wagner, is the now-blooming concept of "composite products" — items that include several different ingredients. Ben and Jerry's has declared all their ice creams will be fair trade by 2013, meaning all the milk, eggs, sugar and cookies will need to be certified, along with all the bits and pieces that make up the ice cream company's wide array of flavors. In essence, Ben and Jerry's decision will trickle down, and clean up their entire supply chain.
Thus far, Publix has stonewalled the CIW, Meaning the socially responsible crowd apparently either isn't shopping there to begin with, or haven't made their voices heard. But Chavez is confident that just like Taco Bell, Aramark and Burger King, the supermarket chain will come around.
"It's just a question of time." Chavez says. "The days where business is made, no questions asked, in terms of the Agriculture; they are disappearing. Now the consumers are asking the right questions to the corporations."
"It's a question of increasing the pressure and just letting people know what's going on."
This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2010.