Protecting Farmworkers' Rights

One of our CROPS members, Cathleen Anthofer, brought to my attention this week an article in the Miami Herald concerning Farm workers being paid unfair wages in Homestead and Florida City. 

Since we buy much of our produce from Homestead, we wanted to make sure that we were not supporting these farms. Some of the worst violators listed were: AFT&T Bean Line, A&J Farms, JNJ Growers, T-N-T Farms, Homestead Organic Farms, Juan Luna, María Sánchez, Elvira Cepeda, Joseph Fisteac and L&J Farm Picking. 
We contacted our supplier, Global Organics, and told them that we are not interested in purchasing from these farms in the future. It is very important to understand the implications of our purchasing power. Spending over a $1000 on each order and refusing to purchase from these farms will hopefully impact how the workers are treated in the future.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

If you would like to learn more about the fight for increased wage and protection for farm workers you can check out the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

Click here for the full Miami Herald article. 


These photos are taken by Shiho Fukada for the CIW.