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Labor and Domestic Fair Trade for Agriculture of the Middle

Labor and Domestic Fair Trade for Agriculture of the Middle

Even though market demand for regionally grown food is relatively strong, farmers remain price takers rather than price makers in most supply chains. Indicators of success for regional food production include labor availability, fair working conditions and adequate income for all who move food from field to market, particularly hired labor. Given the labor shortage in agriculture, what can be done to improve labor conditions and wages?

CIAS is investigating this issue by exploring conceptual frameworks for fair trade and highlighting examples of where it has flourished. Fair trade may offer strategies for securing labor for values-based supply chains, especially if market relations and public policies can support regional food production.

Participatory research on fair trade

The UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS) led a participatory effort to better understand labor issues on small- and medium-scale farms involved in local and regional food systems. In addition to UW-Madison researchers representing diverse fields of study (economics, sociology, human ecology, law and anthropology), project partners include the UW-Madison School for Workers, Wisconsin Farmers Union, the Domestic Fair Trade Association, the Labor Network for Sustainability, national and international labor experts, and family farmers. This project builds on and expands the work of the Agriculture of the Middle project by exploring fair trade strategies for values-based supply chains, especially for mid-scale farms. It is funded by the USDA-NIFA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI).

Our research aimed to understand domestic fair trade activities and clarify opportunities to develop a values-based labor market and income stream for regional food production. We did this through participatory research, by investigating efforts to improve fair labor practices and applying lessons learned from the global fair trade experience. Mid-scale farms and food businesses are organizing to address these issues, and we engaged them in the research process to ensure that our work was grounded in real-world concerns. Our research team explored certification, negotiation, coalition building, and public policy strategies to ensure a fair return on labor and good working environments.

Findings

The challenges facing farm workers are consistent and roughly the same as those facing other low-skilled workers. Wages and earnings, from full-time employment even of two family members, are frequently insufficient to generate incomes that lift their households above the poverty line. Policies and programs that focus on expanding the broader social contract in terms of minimum wages or earnings as well as the provision of basic needs, such as access to decent food, housing, child care, and health care will be critical to helping farm workers. Child care provision could be especially critical to help women expand their earnings potential. At the same time, in an era of low farm incomes, programs aimed at the expansion of social supports and services seem less likely than major increases in legislated minimum wages to generate direct and contested tradeoffs with respect to the earnings of farmers-in-the-middle for whom labor costs can be a significant portion of their expenses.

Research indicates there are both negative and positive outcomes when raising the minimum wage, but that overall there is a positive impact on the economy. Emerging certification programs for farm skill are important for improving wages and organizing labor. Both stabilize the work force. The Milk with Dignity campaign is an example of a successful worker-organized supply chain improvement effort that built a worker-farmer coalition to improve working conditions for hired workers and market conditions for farmers through negotiation with a processor and its multinational owner. Results from focus groups and three cases with CSAs indicate that. improving and stabilizing farm income is accomplished through member involvement and through wholesale market diversification. As farm income improves, so do working conditions and compensation for the farmer, the farm family and hired workers. Organic Valley stressed the importance of a business commitment to specific rural communities, the difficulty improving conditions across a supply chain, and the need improve governance to upgrade social supports. Investigating the Good Food Purchasing Program showed the importance of negotiation and coalition building to realize public benefits, and the tenacity required to develop inclusive and enforceable standards.

  • Decent work is not an automatic result of embedding other values into supply chains.
  • Farmers are squeezed by markets and the costs of production, especially labor costs.
  • Non-wage benefits that augment a worker’s wages and get them towards decent work are obtained by organizing with others to create public programs or work with employers to voluntarily provide benefits.
  • Certification can be applied creatively throughout the supply chain, not simply at the point of purchase. Programs that certify working conditions, skills, and procurement policies can meaningfully improve working conditions.
  • Creating space for regular, good faith negotiation aids in overall communication and allows workers to assist management in improving productivity.
  • Supply chain coalitions are effective means to improve compensation and working conditions for farmers and hired labor. Engaging the supply chain has allowed workers and farmers to negotiate more effectively with buyers.
  • Participatory governance is necessary at different scales and indicates greater market organization.
  • Civic engagement can be seen in the policies that business develop as well as in the ways we govern ourselves in the public sphere.
  • The energy, time and resources that go into negotiation and coalition building are where the power dynamics shift and improvements to governance outcomes emerge.
  • Agreements, contracts, and laws can be developed so that they respond to anticipated change rather than addressing issues at one point in time, and must be monitored and enforced.
  • Success at improving compensation and working conditions comes with set-backs. It takes years of sustained effort for improvements to emerge. Improving working conditions takes time and tenacity from each generation of workers.

Communicating results

The team investigated ways that farmworkers, farmers and their supply chain partners are innovating to achieve a fair return on labor and just working conditions in the food and agriculture sector, and documented findings:

We aim to get the results of this project out to the organizations and people who can put them to work. Our communications strategy includes publications for both grassroots and research audiences. Team members have given numerous presentations at Domestic Fair Trade Association (DFTA) conferences.

The project is part of CIAS’s programmatic commitment to regional food systems research. For more information, contact Michelle Miller, 608-262-7135, mmmille6@wisc.edu.

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