Cultivating Equitable Ground: Community-based Participatory Research To Connect Food Movements with Migrant Farmworkers

Migrant Farmworkers' Perceptions of Pesticide Risk Exposure in Adams County, Pennsylvania: A Cultural Risk Assessment

“…Overall, we understand that the political realities of agricultural exceptionalism can (and do) hamper the implementation of such recommendations by marginalizing migrant farmworkers in multiple ways. For example, having low-income or undocumented status make certain farmworkers more vulnerable to power dynamics (Gray, 2013;Holmes, 2013;Rodman et al, 2016;Weiler et al, 2016). However, we also recognize that advocating for change based on what farmworkers say is a first step towards ensuring that (1) farmworkers feel that they have control over their health, and (2) that perceived risk aligns with the actual risk they face from pesticide use.…”

“…Legacies of systemic racism, indentured servitude, and entrepreneurial exploitations persist in public policy and on-the-ground practice. Such policies and practices inhibit farmworkers' rights to regular standards and laws of labor protection, including those of occupational health (Rodman, Barry, Clayton, Frattaroli, Neff, & Rutkow, 2016;Weiler, Levkoe, & Young, 2016). For example, state-level policies often undermine federal-level labor protections, specifically with regards to minimum wage, overtime protections, and meal and rest periods (Rodman et al, 2016).…”

Sustainable Agri-Food Systems: Environment, Economy, Society, and Policy

“…For instance, Anderson [286] argued that "Food security, health, decent livelihoods, gender equity, safe working conditions, cultural identity and participation in cultural life are basic human rights that can be achieved at least in part through the food system" (p. 593) and coined the new concept of "rights-based food systems". Human rights also relate to labor as they imply decent working conditions and jobs [290]. In particular, the "right to food" is a prominent topic in the literature dealing with eradicating hunger and the achievement of food security [284,287,291,292].…”

“…Different models of agriculture and food systems emphasize the role of the community and the importance of its active participation, such as community-supported agriculture [263,388,[389][390][391][392][393][394][395][396]397], community gardens [218,390,[398][399][400], community seed banks [196], community kitchens [390], and community-based fisheries [401]. This focus on participation led to the emergence of different participatory approaches that do not only cover the whole food chain (from production to consumption), but also associated activities such as participatory research [290,[402][403][404][405], participatory breeding [307,406], and participatory certification [407,408]. Besides participation and inclusiveness, accountability [409,410] and transparency [301,411,412] are central in the new governance arrangements for sustainable agri-food systems.…”

Images of work, images of defiance: engaging migrant farm worker voice through community-based arts

“…The difficulty that Weiler and colleagues ) observe is associated with engaging farm workers in the wider food justice movement has contours that are particular to Canada. While recent scholarship is beginning to connect the struggles of farm workers in Canada to the sustainable food movement (Hjalmarson et al 2015;Weiler et al 2016) the issue of agricultural labour in this context has been most widely discussed in the area of migration and labour studies (Basok 2002;Preibisch 2010;Satzewich 1991). The primary focus of this work has been related to social, political, and economic examinations of Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), a bilateral state-managed 'guest worker' agreement between Canada, Mexico, and several Caribbean countries.…”