There IS a Domestic Fair Trade Association

and you can see a list of its members here:
http://www.dftassociation.org/membership

Looks like this group came together less than two years ago. There's a detailed vision on the web site, too.

The Food Alliance includes the social justice dimensions of sustainability in its North American certification program.

http://foodalliance.org/

But it's got to be a challenge. The Local Fair Trade Network folded before I found them. They've left behind, though, a list of organizations with related causes. I tend to judge websites by their links, and this looks like quite a comprehensive list.

http://www.localfairtrade.org/

One of the challenges of our Sonoma County Food System Alliance is getting enough representation from workers in our meetings. Though many members of the Alliance work with and speak for low wage earners and the poor, it's a pretty elite group. So I was interested today to read an article in our Press-Democrat about an invention designed to benefit the laborers in the vineyards, a device for cooling folks off in hot weather.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091230/NEWS/912309996

It uses mist and shade to create a cooler environment - just like the outdoor seating at posh restaurants.

This is in part a response to the death of a young woman in 2008 due to heat stroke. Some growers ignore regulations to provide shade and drinking water. And according to the article there is a standoff between unions and growers about proposed CalOSHA regulations. Should the temperature at which heat stress requirements for the growers go into effect be 75F or 85F?

(Personally I always hark back to a Finnish study I read about when working in an office without AC in Los Angeles, that brain function begins to be impaired at 78F. I bet the medical reality for heat stress is somewhere in the middle of those two figures being debated, though closer to 75, especially for physical labor under the sun.)

Whatever. The effort of a Napa Valley guy to do invent something to help with this situation is to be applauded.

I've got a couple of questions, though.

Is there some way other than heavy water use to achieve a cooling environment for workers? The grapes are already using so much of our water, and misting people cools them, but doesn't do much to rehydrate them.

The other thing I question is some of the language used in the article.

"Patterson [the inventor] characterizes his trailer is[sic] an 'asset protection tool' for businesses whose employees labor in the sun because the penalties for failing to properly care for workers can far outweigh the Cooling Station's $20,000 price tag."
So this is not about respecting the lives and health of workers, it's about covering your ass[ets].

"The Cooling Station was named as one of the top 10 products of 2010 by World Ag Expo in Tulare County for its potential to advance agricultural production." Again, it's about producing more, not really about concern for people at all.

Fair Food Project

is a multimedia presentation from the California Institute for Rural Studies, an eco-justice organization.

I was mightily impressed by these three short segments describing the problems of farm workers. Comparing field labor working and living conditions to sweatshops - would we tolerate it or be protesting? But we are so invested in our cheap food supply, and the fields are so far away from our population centers, or from our sight even if they are not.

http://www.fairfoodproject.org/main/

The second and third segments stress solutions. Sustainability involves workers, too. Whole foods, if we really meant it, involve a whole farm approach, seeing things systemically. A values-based rather than a product-based assessment of farm success is needed. And what about the idea that farmers building relationships with farm workers creates commitment, and with it increased productivity. There are many good clips and quotes here of farm owners trying to do the right thing for people and planet.

And - a tangential observation - after you've seen all the tomatoes picked green in the photos here, you will understand the lack of flavor in those you find at the supermarket. Even the last few from my garden, picked before frost and ripened inside after, have more flavor.

Happy Cesar Chavez Day

Where would we be without farmworkers? And why is it that today is a holiday only in California, when much of the produce much of the country eats depends on their efforts?

At least there are greeting cards for today. You can get a Chavez e-card at the UFW site.

http://www.ufw.org/_board.php?mode=view&b_code=take_ecard

And while there you can learn more about what's happening, or even sign the petition to make this a national holiday. After all, March is one of those months when there are no civic holidays - and when March is soggier than it is this year and Easter is late we could use one.

As I was looking at sites about farmworker justice to be linked here, I was saddened by how most address problems rather than offering opportunities. So I've posted a link to the right about ALBA, which is different - an organization small in geographical scope, but wide in its impact, helping "limited-resource, aspiring and immigrant farmers" in Monterey County get training in organic farming. ALBA recognizes that for farmworkers to become farmers they need access to education, capital and land - and gives them a leg up in all three.