labor rights

Posted by Siena Chrisman, Global Movements Program, World Hunger Year

Winter Tomatoes
I stopped at a produce stand on my way to the airport in Florida two weeks ago, tempted by tomatoes and strawberries in March. Locally-grown fresh fruit seemed a welcome change from the squash, sweet potatoes, and occasional winter greens that make up the bulk of my seasonally-based early spring diet in New York. But in the end, I couldn't buy anything. Amidst the wonderful smells of fresh strawberries and ripe tomatoes, all I could think about was whose hands had picked the fruit. 

I was in Florida representing WHY in a food justice delegation hosted by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and Just Harvest. The delegation included about a dozen leaders of the sustainable food movement, including Food First Executive Director Eric Holt-Gimenez, Diet for a Small Planet author Frances Moore Lappé, Stuffed and Starved author Raj Patel, food justice activist LaDonna Redmond, and Slow Food USA President Josh Viertel, as well as family farmers, youth leaders, and writers.