The Coalition of Immokalee Workers and The Fresh Market Announce Partnership For Fair Food

Specialty Grocer to Join CIW’s Fair Food Program, Increase Purchases from Participating Florida Growers in Support of Groundbreaking Human Rights Initiative

 
Coalition For Fair FoodIMMOKALEE, FL (January 7, 2015) – The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and Greensboro, N.C.-based The Fresh Market are proud to announce their national partnership to support fair farm labor conditions and verifiable, worker-driven social responsibility in US agriculture.

The collaboration breaks new ground in the CIW’s award-winning Fair Food Program in two significant ways. First, starting with the 2015-2016 season, The Fresh Market will increase its purchases by 15% year-over-year from Florida tomato growers participating in the Fair Food Program. This is an important new precedent that recognizes and supports growers who are making significant investments to improve labor conditions on their farms with increased market share.

Second, The Fresh Market will make an annual contribution to support the Fair Food Standards Council (FFSC), the third-party monitoring organization that oversees compliance with the Fair Food Program’s unique human rights standards. The essential work of the FFSC includes investigating and resolving workers’ complaints, auditing farms for compliance with the Fair Food Code of Conduct, and enforcing the FFP’s standards. Through the FFSC’s diligent efforts, the Fair Food Program has become the gold standard for social responsibility in US agriculture, recognized by longtime labor and human rights observers as “the best workplace monitoring program in the US” and “one of the great human rights success stories of our day.”

“We are pleased to enter into this partnership with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and to be a part of the Fair Food Program,” said Lee Arthur, The Fresh Market’s merchandising vice president – produce, floral and gift center. “We continuously look for ways to source the best products, and being a part of the FFP helps us to know we are sourcing from growers whose practices are fair and socially responsible. This allows us to provide our customers with food they can feel good about purchasing and enjoy sharing with friends and family.”

“This agreement truly takes the Fair Food Program to a new level,” said the CIW’s Guadalupe Gonzalo.  “The FFP is pioneering a new form of social responsibility, one in which we as workers ourselves take a leading role in protecting our own rights in the fields.”

“But we can’t do this alone,” continued Gonzalo. “The FFP is a day-to-day, careful partnership with growers and buyers alike aimed at ensuring that the workplace environment in Florida’s fields is second to none. We have achieved that goal. And now, with this agreement and its new provisions in support of participating growers and the Fair Food Standards Council – two elements essential to the Program’s success — we have laid the groundwork to sustain and scale up those gains well into the future.”

To learn more about the Fair Food Program, please visit www.fairfoodprogram.org

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About the Coalition of Immokalee Workers
Based in Immokalee, Florida, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is a worker-based human rights organization internationally recognized for its achievements in the fields of social responsibility, human trafficking, and gender-based violence at work. To learn more about the CIW, please visit http://ciw-online.org/about/
About The Fresh Market, Inc.
Founded in 1982, The Fresh Market, Inc. is a specialty grocery retailer focused on providing high-quality products in a unique and inviting atmosphere with a high level of customer service. The company currently operates 168 stores in 27 states across the U.S.  The Fresh Market is an equal opportunity employer.  For more information, please visit www.thefreshmarket.com.

Jenny’s Food and Ag Update for January 4, 2015

Jenny Huston, MA, CEC, CDM, CFPP
Farm to Table Food Services
Oakland, CA 94606
415.235.9312

http://www.farmtotableservices.com/
[email protected]
Twitter: @chefjennyhuston

Fellow, Community Food & Justice Coalition
Oakland Food Policy Council Member

“Man is part of nature and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.” -Rachel Carson

Jenny’s Food and Ag Update for December 23, 2014

Jenny Huston, MA, CEC, CDM, CFPP
Farm to Table Food Services
Oakland, CA 94606
415.235.9312

http://www.farmtotableservices.com/
[email protected]
Twitter: @chefjennyhuston

Fellow, Community Food & Justice Coalition
Oakland Food Policy Council Member

“Man is part of nature and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.” -Rachel Carson

Jenny’s Food and Ag Update for November 24, 2014

Jenny's Food and Ag Update

10 Cities Leading the Conversation on Sustainable Eating (The Daily Meal) http://bit.ly/1oZNGPY

The New Farmers (Orion) http://bit.ly/1tkB2LK

Students Aren’t Eating Healthy School Lunches Despite Availability; How Cafeterias Fail To Improve Student Health (Medical Daily) http://bit.ly/1BNsNgB

Students Tweet Pics of What Might Be the Saddest School Lunches You’ve Ever Seen (Takepart) http://bit.ly/1ux6F0d

First Grader Was Told ‘Guess What You Can’t Have Lunch’ Because His Family was in Debt (Nation of Change) http://bit.ly/1xSnyK4

How much should we pay for food? (Medium) http://bit.ly/1tbbBY0

Cranberry Man of 50 Years Yields to Global Glut: A Day’s Work (Bloomberg) http://bloom.bg/1xJs4KT

Global Cost Of Obesity Rises To $2 Trillion A Year (Huffington Post) http://huff.to/1xGtzJI

Report: How the world could better fight obesity (McKinsey) http://bit.ly/1qZsyVG

Is 4-H trying to hook African farmers on costly seeds? (Grist) http://bit.ly/1qgR4H4

Can Whole Food Change the Way Poor People Eat? (Slate) http://slate.me/1xVCpSm

Read the rest..

Jenny’s Food and Ag Update for November 17, 2014

Jenny's Food and Ag Update

Land, Co-ops, Compost: A Local Food Economy Emerges in Boston’s Poorest Neighborhoods (Truthout) http://bit.ly/14kh3mP

Africa: Urban Farming Covers an Area the Size of Europe (EU), More Growth Needed – Study (AllAfrica) http://bit.ly/1q52EVB

Study: Global assessment of urban and peri-urban agriculture: irrigated and rainfed croplands (Environmental Research Letters) http://bit.ly/1vcTIzx

Protecting Seeds and Their Stories: The Sacred in Everyday Life (Nation of Change) http://bit.ly/10J0UFe

Don’t ask how to feed the 9 billion (NYT) http://nyti.ms/1oPNNgY

The fight for seed sovereignty in Ghana (World Development Movement) http://bit.ly/1pFZFmr

Why We Need a Policy for Food, Health and Wellbeing (Union of Concerned Scientists) http://bit.ly/1v5G3tg

Rethinking School Lunch Oakland (OUSD Central Kitchen) http://bit.ly/1xGcNI9

Inside School Food: Episode 21 – Sustainable California Chicken for California Kids (Heritage Radio Network) http://bit.ly/14wP3N9

Millions of Ladybugs Converge in Oakland Redwoods (The Bold Italic) http://bit.ly/112HwmL

Read the rest..