We love our local farmers market because it makes us feel more connected to the source of our food. In the same way, fair trade is like a global farmers’ market. You can meet the people behind your produce, learn about their lives, and understand the impact of Fair Trade Certified™ produce in this guide. Select “Behind the Label” to learn more about the growing communities behind these fruits and vegetables!
In March of 2020, the Mexican government declared a public health emergency requiring farms to take proactive measures to ensure the health and safety of workers. In response to the public health emergency, farms prioritized sending home workers that were at greatest risk, including pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses and health conditions. Workers on Driscoll’s Fair Trade Certified berry farms in Baja, Mexico, used fair trade funds to provide vouchers to cover the cost of food, medicine, and cleaning supplies during this emergency. The team prioritized workers who were at higher-risk to be the first to receive assistance. They also distributed vouchers to workers and their family members who got sick and were unable to work. In total, almost 900 vouchers were distributed to 300 workers during the summer of 2020, amounting to $22,450 USD.
Learn more about Fair Trade Certified berries from Driscoll’s
Peak harvest months can be a grueling time to work on a tomato farm. Outside of Fair Trade Certified farms, people often work overtime during the harvest without overtime pay. Some farms don’t guarantee rest and meal breaks, heat stress protections, and sick leave for their workers. Access to proper medical care at the farm is sometimes limited. The pandemic has only made matters worse, forcing workers to choose between their health and their incomes.
Fair trade standards minimize unsafe conditions by enforcing workplace health and safety standards. Farms must abide by work hour limits and provide personal protective equipment, social security benefits, heat stress protections, and rest and meal breaks. Fair Trade Community Development Funds also allow a way for workers to invest in worker health and safety.
At Wholesum Arizona, a Fair Trade Certified farm, workers voted to offset the cost of the farm’s health care plan for individuals by paying for part of it with Community Development Funds. Now, the farm covers 60 percent of monthly health care costs, and Fair Trade Community Development Funds cover an extra 20 percent. As a result, more workers like Felipe Reyes (pictured), a father of two, have access to affordable health care.
Learn more about Fair Trade Certified tomatoes from Wholesum
Work can be challenging and dangerous for migrant workers like Genoveva Guzman Garcia (pictured). Genoveva is from Coatzingo, Puebla, a city almost 1,400 miles away from the fair trade farm where she works. One of the biggest challenges for migrant workers is finding access to healthcare. During the pandemic, affordable, accessible health care has become more essential than ever for migrant workers, who by nature of their work must do a lot of traveling.
Genoveva is now in her third season with Grupo Alta, a Fair Trade Certified, organic grape producer in Northern Mexico. Here, migrant workers make up 90 percent of the workforce. Recently, her fellow workers voted to use their Fair Trade Community Development Funds to buy new medical and dental equipment in a clinic closer to many of the workers’ homes in Chiapas. This clinic serves indigenous communities who speak regional native languages. The new equipment has improved the quality of care and expanded the services available for migrant workers and their families.
Divemex has a Fair Trade Certified bell pepper farm in Sinaloa that, like many farms in the region, relies on the employment of migrant workers during the harvest season. Some of these workers come from rural communities where the nearest medical services are many hours away and not easily accessible due to lack of transportation. This makes it difficult for them and their families to get urgent medical attention. Workers at Divemex came together to address this issue, voting to use $17,000 of the extra funds they earned through fair trade to buy ambulances to service the community. These migrant workers, their families, and their communities now have reliable transportation to medical facilities. This critical service saves lives during medical emergencies, and is especially important during the global pandemic.
Learn more about Fair Trade Certified bell peppers from Oppy
Workers in the mango industry often experience low wages and job instability. Workers skip around from farm to farm looking for better working conditions and pay. But Vegetales Nacionales, a Fair Trade Certified mango farm in Mexico, reports that more workers are returning year after year for work ever since they joined the program in December 2019. Workers don’t just receive higher income because of fair trade, they also benefit from the hundreds of added workplace safety protections that fair trade standards require, as well as trainings about topics ranging from workers’ rights, to health and safety, product quality, financial literacy, and—as of recently—COVID-19 prevention and safety. “What I liked the most was understanding my benefits as a worker, as well as any risks I may encounter,” said Valeria Villegas, who attended one of the sessions. “Thanks to this training, people are now aware of what the work is about and preventive measures that must be taken.”
Behind the Label
