Tell us why you LOVE farm workers!

This Valentine's Day, let North Carolina's farm workers know just how much you appreciate the hard work they do to keep an abundance of food in our grocery stores and on our plates.  Make a virtual Valentine for farm workers!   We'll share your postcards with workers when we meet with them throughout the year, so they can see the faces of the folks who support them in their cause of fairness and dignity!

See the attached photo postcard for inspiration, and you can also check out folks' video postcards at our Vimeo page:  http://vimeo.com/channels/ncfan.

Making a virtual Valentine is a fun and powerful action you can do to show your support for farm workers and the hard work they do.  You can create your own individual postcard or make one together with your spouse, your children or your friends.  Your Valentine can be a photo or a short video.  Here are step-by-step instructions!

To make a photo postcard:

1) Make a Valentine's sign with your message about why you love North Carolina's farm workers.  Keep the message short and write it in large letters!
2) Write your name and the city where you live in bold letters at the bottom of your sign.
3) Have someone take a photo of you proudly holding your finished Valentine.
4) Email your photo to harvestofdignity@gmail.com, and we'll put it on the Harvest of Dignity website!

To make a video postcard:

1) Think about what you want to say.  Keep it short and simple!
2) Have someone take a short video of you.  State your name, the city you live in, and why you love North Carolina's farm workers.
3) Share your video!  Here's how:

- Save your video to your computer
- Go to www.vimeo.com
- Create a free account if you don't already have one (it's quick and easy, we promise)
- Visit the Farmworker Advocacy Network's "Group" at: http://vimeo.com/groups/harvestofdignity
- Click on "Join this Group" on the right side
- Click on "Upload Video" on the right side
- Your video will appear as soon as it is approved by moderators

You can always email us for tech support at harvestofdignity@gmail.com.  Also, if you attended a Harvest of Dignity event this winter and made a photo or video postcard, check out our Vimeo and Picasa pages to find it!

Wishing you a wonderful Valentine's Day,

Ana Duncan Pardo, Toxic Free North Carolina
On behalf of the Farmworker Advocacy Network
Visit us at: www.harvestofdignity.org

AFOP Announces “Year of the Farmworker Child”

Today the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) announced they have designated 2011 the “Year of the Farmworker Child.” Starting in January, AFOP will devote twelve months to raising awareness about the hardships faced by migrant farmworker youth... (more)



Today the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) announced they have designated 2011 the “Year of the Farmworker Child.” Starting in January, AFOP will devote twelve months to raising awareness about the hardships faced by migrant farmworker youth. In addition, AFOP and other supporters of the “Year of the Farmworker Child” will seek to increase public knowledge concerning the discriminatory agricultural exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which regulates child labor in the U.S.

“Children in agriculture labor longer and under more hazardous conditions than they are permitted to do in almost any other American industry,” said AFOP Executive Director David Strauss. “In 2011, we will work with our members, other organizations, and communities to help promote a greater understanding of the impact this kind of life has on children’s safety, health and education, as part of our ongoing effort to help today’s farmworker youth create better futures for themselves.”

According to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, agriculture is currently the third-most dangerous industry in the United States, in terms of injuries and fatalities recorded on the job. For children, it is the most dangerous. Boys and girls as young as 12 years old are legally allowed to labor in agriculture for an unlimited amount of hours outside of school, using dangerous farm equipment and working in an environment that continually exposes them to pesticides—conditions deemed illegal in every other industry and that can lead to serious injury or even death. Farmworker youth are also excluded from the “hazardous work” protections imposed in all other industries, allowing children as young as 16 to operate heavy machinery and perform other dangerous functions that are strictly reserved for adults in every employment field except in agriculture.

Migrant farmworker youth working long days in the fields frequently see their educational opportunities curtailed as a result. The migratory nature of farm work means that parts of the school curriculum often have to be repeated or skipped. We have evidence that more than half of these children will not finish high school and fewer still will go on to college, forcing them to continue the cycle of poverty.

AFOP will begin the “Year of the Farmworker Child” by seeking assistance from supporters to help illuminate the issues raised by the campaign. Among the activities slated to increase awareness is AFOP’s Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Children's Essay & Art Contest, which will begin accepting entries next month. AFOP’s Children in the Fields Campaign will conduct a variety of regional activities in support of the initiative, starting in February at the “From Harvest to Harvard” migrant student conference in Texas. AFOP’s Health and Safety Programs will also be releasing their annual publication focused on the effects of pesticides on children. For additional information on how you can become a supporter of the “Year of the Farmworker Child,” please contact Ayrianne Parks at parks[at]afop.org.

Today the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) announced they have designated 2011 the “Year of the Farmworker Child.” Starting in January, AFOP will devote twelve months to raising awareness about the hardships faced by migrant farmworker youth. In addition, AFOP and other supporters of the “Year of the Farmworker Child” will seek to increase public knowledge concerning the discriminatory agricultural exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which regulates child labor in the U.S.

“Children in agriculture labor longer and under more hazardous conditions than they are permitted to do in almost any other American industry,” said AFOP Executive Director David Strauss. “In 2011, we will work with our members, other organizations, and communities to help promote a greater understanding of the impact this kind of life has on children’s safety, health and education, as part of our ongoing effort to help today’s farmworker youth create better futures for themselves.”

According to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, agriculture is currently the third-most dangerous industry in the United States, in terms of injuries and fatalities recorded on the job. For children, it is the most dangerous. Boys and girls as young as 12 years old are legally allowed to labor in agriculture for an unlimited amount of hours outside of school, using dangerous farm equipment and working in an environment that continually exposes them to pesticides—conditions deemed illegal in every other industry and that can lead to serious injury or even death. Farmworker youth are also excluded from the “hazardous work” protections imposed in all other industries, allowing children as young as 16 to operate heavy machinery and perform other dangerous functions that are strictly reserved for adults in every employment field except in agriculture.

Migrant farmworker youth working long days in the fields frequently see their educational opportunities curtailed as a result. The migratory nature of farm work means that parts of the school curriculum often have to be repeated or skipped. We have evidence that more than half of these children will not finish high school and fewer still will go on to college, forcing them to continue the cycle of poverty.

AFOP will begin the “Year of the Farmworker Child” by seeking assistance from supporters to help illuminate the issues raised by the campaign. Among the activities slated to increase awareness is AFOP’s Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Children's Essay & Art Contest, which will begin accepting entries next month. AFOP’s Children in the Fields Campaign will conduct a variety of regional activities in support of the initiative, starting in February at the “From Harvest to Harvard” migrant student conference in Texas. AFOP’s Health and Safety Programs will also be releasing their annual publication focused on the effects of pesticides on children. For additional information on how you can become a supporter of the “Year of the Farmworker Child,” please contact Ayrianne Parks at parks[at]afop.org.

CBS Evening News: "Harvest of Shame" Revisited--CIW

The original "Harvest of Shame" was broadcast on the day after Thanksgiving, 1960. Fifty years later, CBS Evening News returned to Immokalee to revisit Florida's fields and, thanks to the recent advances in the Campaign for Fair Food, found reason for hope...(more from CIW website)

Meanwhile FAN and Minnow Media are working hard to finish up our own documentary Harvest of Shame... Stay tuned for the final screening/release in early 2011!

The Harvest of Dignity Campaign Takes Off

Following the successful public lauch of FAN's Harvest of Dignity Campaign, we've been mentioned in lots of different places: from newspapers (here and here) to community newsletters to statewide think tanks and beyond.

If you and your organization/business haven't already endorsed the campaign, it's very simple.  We're about safe places to live and work, along with smart enforcement of the laws already on the books.  Click here to sign on today!

Click here to see a great gallery of pictures from our launch.

Durham's SEEDS sign's on to HOD

SEEDS staff and DIG have signed on as allies with the Farmworker Advocacy Network (FAN), a statewide organization that works to improve the living and working conditions... (Read more on the SEEDS e-newsletter)

The “Harvest of Shame” continues

Originally posted at NC Policy Watch

While the modern landscape of North Carolina agriculture may not, at first glimpse, look very "modern," many of our local growers are, in fact, now operating in a new global agribusiness paradigm.

Yes, it's true that many of the same crops are still grown on the same land, using many of the same methods. They are still planted by hand, and harvested by hand, as they have been since the time slaves were doing that work. But don't get caught up in nostalgic notions of the preservation of small, family farms-today the name of the game is, overwhelmingly global, agribusiness; factories in the fields.

This is illustrated by the new effort to market the North Carolina sweet potato to European supermarkets. As recently reported by the AP , "the value of exports to the United Kingdom jumped from $5.7 million to $20.4 million between 2005 and 2009, and in the first six months of 2010 exports were on pace to comfortably exceed last year's total, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture."

Further evidence of this shift can be seen in the sustained, heavy reliance by local farms on a vulnerable, immigrant workforce from the global south. Increasingly, US agricultural products are being "branded" for the global marketplace, and yet farm labor conditions remain hidden within this new marketing scheme.

It's been half a century since Edward R. Murrow's Harvest of Shame documentary aired on CBS, revealing the plight of migrant field workers and making a strong call to civil society for change. Murrow highlighted the "backwardness" of the extreme, systemic poverty of field workers, asking us how, in this great, modern nation, could this be happening? And 50 years later, the agricultural industry is still just as important to our national and state economies. Yet it still relies on a system of vulnerable, exploitable workers to hand-harvest crops. Murrow's concerns clearly have still yet to be addressed.

The global forces affecting North Carolina agriculture nonetheless offer new challenges and new opportunities to address some of the age-old problems that continue to exploit and degrade the environment and workers. Indeed, as agribusiness reaches out to new markets, it also changes the distribution of power within the system.

For example, if North Carolina growers wish to market their sweet potatoes to a European market, they will have to meet new health and safety standards of the European supermarket chains. This is one example of new possibilities for points of leverage, to again force the question (albeit rephrased and to a new audience) of how can this be happening here?

Recently, the Farmworker Advocacy Network (FAN), held a series of events around North Carolina to kick-off the 'Harvest of Dignity' Campaign, which seeks to improve the laws protecting farmworkers. FAN is a coalition of organizations that work with farmworkers directly or work around issues affecting farmworkers.

The group's message is simple and straightforward: 50 years is far too long to wait for change. Change is badly and outrageously overdue, even more so now in the new, global agriculture system. And while many would agree that a complete overhaul is what's truly needed, what workers are asking for is relatively quite plain and simple: Just the basics.

Safe places to work: Enact basic health and safety standards to protect field and poultry workers from injury, illness and toxic chemical exposure on the job. Poultry processing plants should be required to keep line speeds safe.

Safe places to live: Require employer-provided housing to be safe, sanitary and provide for basic decency, such as privacy in bathrooms and locks on the doors.

Better enforcement of existing laws: Require state agencies to work together to enforce our state's current laws protecting field and poultry workers. Crack down on repeat offenders who ignore the law and put people in harm's way.

So, during this holiday season as you come together to celebrate over shared family meals, remember to thank the workers here in North Carolina who harvested your sweet potatoes, or worked on the line processing your turkey, that still do not have the basic rights that most workers take for granted.

It's time to stand in solidarity with these people to demand that 50 years is enough.

Update on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 at 3:34PM by Chris Liu-Beers

This article also ran in the Dec. 16 edition of the Carrborro Citizen!  Here's the link.

Who gives us this feast?

Originally published in the Durham Herald-Sun

BY NILISHA MCPHAUL

Thanksgiving is a time to feast and be with loved ones. Every year my family and I gather at my grandmother's. We are thankful for having food to feast upon. But I have a question.

When you are sitting at the table and you all are passing around food and filling up your plates, have you ever thought about where your food comes from? Beyond the grocery store, have you ever thought about whether your food was imported or packaged or processed?

Some people answer the question by saying farms, which is correct. But have you ever thought about who harvests and picks the food on farms?

Well if you haven't, then this is a good time to really think about it. Most of us don't know who is making it possible for us to buy and to eat our food.

Have you heard of migrant workers? Migrant workers are often undocumented workers who come to America for a better life. They expect to have a decent job, but instead many find themselves working hard and long hours in the worst conditions, and some don't even get paid minimum wage.

I know you're probably thinking "Wow, that's terrible" but you haven't even heard the worst part.

Have you ever wondered about the ages of the people working in these conditions? Along with their parents, children are also working from as young as 6. I have two sisters and two stepsisters, who are 7,12 ,6, and 13. I can't believe that anyone my sister's age would have to go through this. That's like imagining my youngest sister working in a field without being able to play and go to school.

A field should be a place were children play, not where they have to work. How come no one has spoken up for them? Migrant workers often can't speak up for themselves because they don't want to lose their job, they cannot speak enough English to share their opinion or because they are afraid of being deported. Once they are here they may not have another place to go.

How come the government hasn't looked into this? Why are we allowing this to happen? Our food system, our migrant workers and their situation seems crazy, why aren't we doing anything to stop it? Why are children getting sick and sometimes dying from exposure to pesticides? Why are children being forced to work in the fields and yet they don't even have decent homes to live in? What is the world coming to when 6-year-olds have to work in the field to help their families out?

I am 15 years old and I work at the SEEDS educational garden. When I heard this, I felt confused and sad. To think that there are people of my age working in these terrible conditions just makes me want to inform the world about what is going on in our country.

When I sit down with my family on Thanksgiving Day and look at all the delicious things on our table, like mashed potatoes, collard greens, turkey, sweet potato pies, string beans and strawberry shortcake, I will think about where it all came from and how hard families have worked in the fields just so we can sit down and eat.

If you are interested there are many ways to help out such as writing to politicians, joining organizations that support migrant workers and their rights, and taking the time to inform others and the world about what is really going on.

Nilisha McPhaul is a freshman at Hillside.

Children in the Fields

By Emily Drakage, NC Regional Coordinator, Children in the Fields Campaign - Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (USDOL) Wage and Hour Division sent out a press release on November 4, 2010 concerning the Strike Force initiative this summer in Western North Carolina.   The new and active interest taken by the DOL on child labor issues in North Carolina was encouraging to read about as an advocate of migrant and seasonal farmworker children. I was pleased to hear the investigators had found no evidence of child labor in the tomato harvest in Western North Carolina.  While this is a great improvement from the series of violations found during the blueberry harvest in 2008, it still pains me to think that when the USDOL investigates child labor in agriculture they are really only searching for children younger than 12 years of age.  

The agriculture industry is consistently ranked as one of the three most dangerous industries in the nation according to USDOL statistics.  All farmworkers toil under very harsh conditions and have less worker protections than any other industry. Yet, a result of an unfair exemption in the U.S. child labor law, children as young as 12 are permitted to perform dangerous, back-breaking labor for unlimited number of hours (outside of school hours) for poverty wages. The Fair Labor Standards Act, which regulates child labor in the U.S., has not been amended since its initial enactment in 1938 and fails to equally protect children who labor in agriculture as it does for all other youth in all other industries.

It is shameful that we as a country still allow this unequal standard of protection to exist.  Migrant and seasonal farmworker children continue to work and live in such environments and as a result these children sacrifice their childhood, education, and well being giving them little hope of escaping the cycle of poverty. The Fair Labor Standards Act which has not been amended since its initial enactment in 1938 fails to equally protect children who labor in agriculture as it does for all other youth in all other industries.

As previously stated, legally a 12-year-old child can labor in agriculture for unlimited number of hours outside of school hours. How can this be considered equitable when, for example, the law stipulates that a youth must be 14-15 years old with a workers permit to work limited number of hours in a grocery store? We must lend our voice in support of farmworker children and youth protections.  Farmworkers’ labor puts food on our tables and is an essential asset to North Carolina and the nations’ economy, but child labor is not.  In order for all children to receive equal labor protections please take action to end child farmworker discriminations by contacting your local representative or by finding more information at www.afop.org , www.ncfield.org , or www.harvestofdignity.org.