April 22, 2011
By Rachel Greenberger
Stillman’s latest blog post Local farms going out of business is a must read if you follow the local food movement. No matter how far down the rabbit hole I go, there is always far more to understand about food.
Stillman’s discusses an under-reported topic in agriculture: workers rights. According to Wednesday’s blog, the Department of Labor recently changed its programming in a manner that directly impacts (and threatens) how small farms may hire and retain labor. An excerpt:
All these years later, Merrick and Tilbert have not only become integral to the farm, but our family… These men are trained here and know how to do every job on the farm – from plowing, welding and laying plastic to suckering tomatoes and bundling arugula. It is not something you just walk into, and it is demeaning to the position to say it is unskilled.
Food, Inc. is the film everyone references when we talk about food-system breakdown. Among the issues it raises is abuse of low-run industry labor, which facilitates abuse of farm animals.
This week’s farm animal horror story comes to us from a west Texas dairy ranch where undercover video revealed calves being bludgeoned with pick axes and hammers. (Like nearly everything, the footage is available online, though I elected not to watch.) Surely, a human tragedy lies just behind the animal one.
Not everything in food is broken, but many stones remain unturned. At the farmer’s market, in the supermarket, in the lunch line and at the restaurant, it is pivotal that you ask questions. Behind your shiny produce, your filet mignon, or your caramel latte, a whole complex system is at work – some of it cloaked in misery and dehumanization.
Learn all you can. Question your farmers, growers, and vendors. Go talk to Kate Stillman at one of the weekly markets. After 20 years, Stillman’s has weathered many sea changes in Massachusetts local food.
Continue to ask about food miles and organic certification – but also ask about labor conditions, animal welfare, co-packers, social compliance, and supply chain partners. The more we question, the more sellers have to answer for.
Whether you’re shopping local, organic, local-organic or industrial, it pays to ask. What you choose goes into your body and the bodies of your families. What could be more important than that?
If you want to know more about farm animal welfare, check out Certified Humane Raised & Handled®. Some of my favorites that carry the seal are Redwood Hill yogurt, Echo Farm puddings, and Peter & Gerry’s eggs. For the complete list, click here.
http://www.examiner.com/sustainable-agriculture-in-boston/behind-unskilled-labor-from-local-farm-stillman-s
The Examiner.com
Posted: April 22, 2011 by Certified Humane
April 22, 2011
By Rachel Greenberger
Stillman’s latest blog post Local farms going out of business is a must read if you follow the local food movement. No matter how far down the rabbit hole I go, there is always far more to understand about food.
Stillman’s discusses an under-reported topic in agriculture: workers rights. According to Wednesday’s blog, the Department of Labor recently changed its programming in a manner that directly impacts (and threatens) how small farms may hire and retain labor. An excerpt:
All these years later, Merrick and Tilbert have not only become integral to the farm, but our family… These men are trained here and know how to do every job on the farm – from plowing, welding and laying plastic to suckering tomatoes and bundling arugula. It is not something you just walk into, and it is demeaning to the position to say it is unskilled.
Food, Inc. is the film everyone references when we talk about food-system breakdown. Among the issues it raises is abuse of low-run industry labor, which facilitates abuse of farm animals.
This week’s farm animal horror story comes to us from a west Texas dairy ranch where undercover video revealed calves being bludgeoned with pick axes and hammers. (Like nearly everything, the footage is available online, though I elected not to watch.) Surely, a human tragedy lies just behind the animal one.
Not everything in food is broken, but many stones remain unturned. At the farmer’s market, in the supermarket, in the lunch line and at the restaurant, it is pivotal that you ask questions. Behind your shiny produce, your filet mignon, or your caramel latte, a whole complex system is at work – some of it cloaked in misery and dehumanization.
Learn all you can. Question your farmers, growers, and vendors. Go talk to Kate Stillman at one of the weekly markets. After 20 years, Stillman’s has weathered many sea changes in Massachusetts local food.
Continue to ask about food miles and organic certification – but also ask about labor conditions, animal welfare, co-packers, social compliance, and supply chain partners. The more we question, the more sellers have to answer for.
Whether you’re shopping local, organic, local-organic or industrial, it pays to ask. What you choose goes into your body and the bodies of your families. What could be more important than that?
If you want to know more about farm animal welfare, check out Certified Humane Raised & Handled®. Some of my favorites that carry the seal are Redwood Hill yogurt, Echo Farm puddings, and Peter & Gerry’s eggs. For the complete list, click here.
http://www.examiner.com/sustainable-agriculture-in-boston/behind-unskilled-labor-from-local-farm-stillman-s
Category: news