GoodFarms and the Equitable Food Initiative celebrate a major milestone this summer — the 10th anniversary of the first Equitable Food Initiative Certification which was completed by GoodFarms.
In this partnered episode of the “Tip of the Iceberg” podcast with Equitable Food Initiative, Amalia Zimmerman-Lommel, director of social responsibility with GoodFarms, joins LeAnne Ruzzamenti, director of marketing and communications for Equitable Food Initiative, to share how her understanding of social responsibility has evolved in the 10 years since GoodFarms became EFI certified and the benefits of certification.
GoodFarms achieved this milestone in 2014 and has since expanded its certification to all aspects of the business. Zimmerman-Lommel said it’s a testament to working together with the entire business to change the culture.
“You can engage with farmworkers and have them be your partner in this journey and the food supply chain and therefore make the food supply chain a healthier more equitable more sustainable product,” she said.
Zimmerman-Lommel said being a farmworker-lead program, EFI certification engages the workforce directly.
“They have to be educated and they have to say when they’re ready and when they’re not for an audit and the goal really is to have that direct engagement with your workforce,” she said. “To do that the culture needed to change.”
Zimmerman-Lommel said the culture change included respect for all workers, paying payroll properly and more. She said this also included engaging directly with farmworkers and explaining the why behind some of the standards helped the workers feel more connected to the task at hand. An example, she said, is reentry intervals.
“Once you engage directly with the farmworker and let that person know this is the reason you know you can’t go in there is because it will create harm to you, and you could bring that to your children to your spouse at home all these different things,” she said. “If somebody ingests that food it’s not going to be safe. You’re trying to engage with the farmworker and let them know the why behind everything.”
