Matt Rogers' journey from Whole Foods Market to AgSocio farm labor contractor
The thing is, it’s tough to really know what’s going on with the agricultural labor you’re sourcing when you’re a produce retailer, buyer, even wholesaler or shipper.
Matt Rogers has been working on this for more than a decade at the retail side, as well as the middleman side.
Rogers jumped into the produce business through Whole Foods Market, where he spent 13 years working on global produce deals and handled social, environmental and food safety issues for the corporate produce team. He roamed the U.S., Mexico, Central America and South America, meeting growers and seeing some of the best — and worst — labor standards and practices.
That’s led to today, as co-founder and general manager of AgSocio, the first farm labor contractor to receive Equitable Food Initiative verification of the highest labor standards in its pilot program.
Learn more: Equitable Food Initiative's 2022 accomplishments
AgSocio is an agricultural labor and service provider operating in California and Arizona, founded on the vision that farm labor contractors could successfully operate ethically, justly and transparently, while being competitive.
Rogers is participating in his fair labor practices mission in several ways, inside and outside his company.
Rogers participated in forming the global Ethical Charter on Responsible Labor Practices, which details 13 standards and was adopted in 2018 by the International Fresh Produce Association, which was then United Fresh Produce Association and Produce Marketing Association.
He represented Whole Foods Market at the time and was working with other larger retailers, foodservice companies, big restaurant buyers, labor contractors, many growers, some attorneys and labor experts.
Those who signed the charter made a commitment to maintain certain standards in housing, recruiting, health and safety of the workers along the food supply chain, globally.
“The question is now how to implement it and really make it real,” Rogers said in his EFI interview on the "Tip of the Iceberg" podcast.
What is this charter, really? Learn here
People working near the end of the supply chain need to ask about fair labor practices of the produce items they’re buying.
It’s not easy to get answers, and many professionals along the supply chain don’t know the labor specifics yet, which is why Equitable Food Initiative is working on a verification program.
“Labor is hidden back in the supply chain for many players in the industry, from the buyer sitting in a retailer or foodservice corporate office who is very removed, but even to shippers or the brands that are marketing produce,” Rogers said. “They are multiple layers removed, frequently, from where the labor really is employed.”
Start asking questions about who touches the product all along the supply chain:
- Are they H-2A employed? Are they employed directly by the growers?
- Or are they employed by a farm with the contractor?
- If by a farm contractor, are they properly licensed? How are they recruiting people?
“I mean, there are some basic due diligence questions that buyers, brands, growers with other third-party growers, importers — whoever you may be — can, and really should, be asking about the labor in your supply chain,” Rogers said.
He’s a Standards Committee member at EFI, a National Agricultural Worker Advisory Council member and a CiertoGlobal board member.
EFI’s pilot program is an experiment in bringing farm labor contractors into the mix of third-party certification programs, because, Rogers said, “while there are many, many rules and regulations and laws, they are not appropriately enforced, and it is hard to stand out.”
There are many professional farm labor contractors who run good, compliant operations, he said, but there are many who do not — “and it's hard to tell one from the other.”
“This verification with EFI is one more thing that we can do to show that we really are trying to be different, that we are compliant and to show our customers that we are investing in not just that transparency, but also that we’re investing in our workforce," he said. "We believe that by engaging with the workforce, we can provide a better service to them.
“As labor gets more and more and more expensive, we all need that extra productivity edge that comes from teamwork and comes from having everybody rolling in the same direction.”
