The Fair Food Program
Farmworkers harvesting tomatoes in Florida. Photo courtesy of Scott Robertson.
Fair Food Program is a unique farmworker- and consumer-driven initiative consisting of a:
- Wage increase supported by a price premium paid by corporate purchasers of Florida tomatoes;
- Human-rights-based Code of Conduct, applicable throughout the Florida tomato industry.
The price premium and the Code of Conduct, which were developed by tomato workers, growers, and corporate buyers, form the foundation for a new model of social accountability. Frequently Asked Questions on the Fair Food Program.
Currently 14 corporate buyers and members of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange which represents 90% of the state’s tomato growers are participating in the Fair Food program. Participating buyers are:
- Fast-Food: Yum! Brands (Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut), McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Chipotle Mexican Grill
- Foodservice: Compass Group, Aramark, Sodexo, Bon Appetit Management Company
- Grocery: Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Ahold USA, Fresh Market
The Fair Food Program creates real, lasting change in the working and living conditions of nearly 100,000 workers each year who harvest in Florida’s tomato fields. Watch the PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly report on the CIW’s Fair Food Program.
Read the recent NPR interview with Adres Cediel, PBS Frontline producer, on the Fair Food Program's successful approach to combating farmworker sexual harassment. And watch the PBS Frontline special addressing sexual violence in the fields. Read more
The Fair Food Standards Council is the independent, third party monitor that oversees the day-to-day implementation of these higher standards and pay. To read the Fair Food Code of Conduct, see a list of participating growers and learn more about the FFP, visit the Fair Food Standards Council website.
At the end of 2013, the Fair Food Standards Council released it’s Fair Food Program Report for 2011-2013. This comprehensive account of the development, implementation, execution and next steps of the program provides data and narrative which detailing the human rights achievements and advances in corporate and grower accountability and transparency.
The Fair Food Program emerged from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’(CIW) successful Campaign for Fair Food, a campaign to affirm the human rights of tomato workers and improve the conditions under which they labor.
Read more about the CIW
Learn more about how the Fair Food Standards Council monitors and enforces the Fair Food Program in this article from the Ft. Myer’s News-Press, “Fair Food Standards Council Oversees Compliance to Protect Farmworkers,” by Amy Bennett Williams, June 16, 2012.
