Fair Food Program, Chilean delegation take step in international expansion

The latest estimates show forced labor has increased significantly throughout the world in the last five years, according to the United Nations' International Labor Organization. Even with the existence of many human rights and equitable farm labor organizations and programs, a pressing need remains to do more to protect the farmworkers planting and harvesting fruits and vegetables.

One organization working toward a prevention-based solution in global food supply chains is the Fair Food Program. The Presidential Medal-winning program developed by the Coalition for Immokalee Workers, a Florida-based human rights organization, has been recognized by law enforcement agencies and human rights advocates in recent years. This year, thanks to a recent grant, FFP is looking beyond the U.S., seeking to expand its model into countries such as Mexico, Chile and South Africa.

In February 2023 the U.S. Department of Labor awarded a $2.5 million grant to the Fair Food Standards Council — the independent third-party monitor of the Fair Food Program — to accelerate the program's expansion and “promote grassroots, worker-driven social responsibility in agricultural supply chains.”

“The grant from the international arm of the U.S. Department of Labor is a very exciting opportunity for expansion of the Fair Food Program internationally. We have been given a grant to explore the feasibility of expansion in three countries: Chile, South Africa and Mexico,” said Judge Laura Safer Espinoza, the executive director of the Fair Food Standards Council. “And, very excitingly, we have already done our first certifications in Chile, and we are about to do a certification in South Africa.

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“We have wonderful partnerships with participating buyers at the top of the food supply chain, in this instance, first Whole Foods and also Compass Group are supporting this international expansion," Espinoza added. "We also have the support of two participating growers who have operations in these countries."

In December 2022, cut-flower producer Bloomia became the first agricultural producer to have its Chilean operations certified by the Fair Food Standards Council. 

“Why I'm such a big lover of the program is simply because, [number] one – it doesn't require any other certification; you [don’t] get the feeling that you're buying your certification,” Bloomia CEO Werner Jansen said. “The other nice thing about the Fair Food Program is that it really gives the employees at the lowest level you can find in the farm a very strong voice to upper management, to make them aware of either any incident that took place or any form of abuse that took place between supervisors, managers or whoever.”

Chilean delegation visits Immokalee, Fla.  

To advance the expansion goal, the Fair Food Standards Council and the CIW convened April 24-28 with a Chilean delegation that traveled to southwest Florida with the support of the Labor Department. 

The CIW hosted the delegation for meetings that include representatives from:

• Chilean agricultural producers, human rights activists and government representatives.

• FFP participating buyers, Whole Foods Market and Compass Group.

• Participating growers, Sunripe Certified Brands and Bloomia.

• Officials from the U.S. State Department and Labor Department. 

The meetings were focused largely on efforts to expand the Fair Food Program in Chile’s agricultural industry, with the goal of extending its best-in-class human rights protections to workers, and certifying ethical producers, in that country. 

As demonstrated by the recent visit, interest in FFP expansion is already moving far beyond the flower sector, with the potential to transform conditions for many workers.