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Just Farming: an Environmental Justice Perspective on the Capacity of Grassroots Organizations to Support the Rights of Organic Farmers and Laborers

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Just Farming: an Environmental Justice Perspective on the Capacity of Grassroots Organizations to Support the Rights of Organic Farmers and Laborers JUST FARMING: AN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PERSPECTIVE ON THE CAPACITY OF GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS TO SUPPORT THE RIGHTS OF ORGANIC FARMERS AND LABORERS Dr. Becca Berkey, Research Associate Northeastern Environmental Justice Research Collaborative Laborers at work during one of the researcher’s site visits January 2015 www.northeastern.edu/nejrc [email protected] 617-373-5840 Just Farming: An Environmental Justice Perspective on the Capacity of Grassroots Organizations to Support the Rights of Organic Farmers and Laborers by Dr. Becca Berkey TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 3 Alignment of Methods with Research Questions 5 Section 1. Survey Findings: Farmers and Farmworkers in the Northeast 6 1.1 Survey Estimated Response Rate 6 1.2 Types of Labor on Farms 7 1.3 Number of Laborers on Farm by Type 8 1.4 Length of Time Working on Farm 9 1.5 Payroll Ranges and Benefits to Workers 10 1.6 Written Policies 12 1.7 Farmers’ Value Ratings 13 1.8 Support Received from Organizational Membership 14 1.9 Results from Open-Ended Questions 14 Section 2. Site Visit and Interview Findings: Farmers and Farmworkers in the Northeast 16 2.1 Site Visit and Interview Finding Summary 16 2.2 Interview Findings Discussion 16 Section 3. Revisiting the Research Questions 18 3.1 Who are the farmers and farmworkers on organic farms associated with the Northeast Organic Farming Association? And what are the justice-related issues facing farmworkers specifically? 18 3.2 Does organic agriculture's approaches to justice with farmworkers differ from those exhibited by conventional farms according to publicly available, national data? 19 3.3 What are farmers’ (who are participants in NOFA) perceptions of the opportunities, challenges, and pressures related to justice for farmworkers? 20 3.4 How does participation in broader justice-focused or justice-related organizations affect farmers’ attitudes about and actions regarding justice for farmworkers? 21 3.5 What is the lived experience of farmers and farmworkers who are part of the organic farming system in the Northeast? 22 3.6 What hinders or constrains organic farmers and farmworker success? 23 Section 4. Discussion & ImPlications for Practice in NOFA 25 ApPendix A. Data Collection & Analysis 27 ApPendix B. References 31 NOFA Report 2 Just Farming: An Environmental Justice Perspective on the Capacity of Grassroots Organizations to Support the Rights of Organic Farmers and Laborers by Dr. Becca Berkey INTRODUCTION In this study, I provide insights to the question, “How do various justice-related issues (including competition in the market, pay, housing, and health) impact farmers and farmworkers on organic farms in the Northeast, and how does involvement in a grassroots organization like the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) help them address these issues, if at all?” My findings in this report will hopefully contribute to a deeper understanding of how economic and environmental justice, asset-based community development, and coalition building practices are implemented within NOFA. The thorough exploration of the justice-related issues that are impacting farmers and workers on organic farms that are a part of this network reveals both strengths of and challenges for the organization and its various state-level chapters, and will be discussed in this report. I also expose some areas of continuous challenge for farmers that may help to refocus the organization and the work of the Interstate Council and state-level chapters so that these issues can be addressed head-on. The economic justice issues facing organic farmers and workers in this study are consistent with some of the challenges faced in conventional agriculture, such as inadequate pay, lack of housing, intense market competition, and health-related problems due to the strenuous nature of the work. However, the reasons for these issues differ in the organic farming sector. In conventional farming, much justice-related research focuses on pesticide use and its effects on worker health as well as effects of immigration policies and the exploitation of immigrants due to the reliance in conventional agriculture on workers from outside of the United States. In small-scale organic farming, the issues largely come from a lack of systemic infrastructure within which the farmers themselves can make enough income to support and enact their values of justice and sustainability. From their perspective, the positive emotional value that participants realized in living this lifestyle far outweighed the economic challenges they discussed, which were many and significant (including little to no pay, no health insurance, and the difficulty of the work itself). Participants experienced the farm as a place to learn and grow, in addition to work, whether for just room and board or for full pay. My findings suggest that NOFA should consider how it can help ensure ongoing employment opportunities and training for workers in the case that full- year employment cannot be achieved. It might be possible for NOFA to build alliances with other employers that could use the skills of agricultural workers during their off season. Finally, because access to both health and retirement benefits is a consistent challenge across the network, there is a role for NOFA in creating a collective, lower-cost way for farmers and laborers to access benefits. NOFA Report 3 Small-scale organic agriculture and its farmers and laborers are a population marginalized within the larger political-economic landscape of agriculture within the United States, both organic and conventional. As Arcury, Wiggins, and Quandt (2009) point out, “the housing available to farmworkers is largely substandard and exposes workers and their family members to environmental health risks. .In the eastern US, environmental and occupational regulations provide little protection to farmworkers” (p. 222-223). Much of the research on the environmental justice issues impacting farmworkers focuses on conventional agriculture and therefore heavily on pesticide use and related illness. In the case of organic agriculture, pesticide exposure is less problematic. However, problems for farmworkers in organic agriculture remain and as one study points out, Although farmworkers experience high rates of occupational and environmental injury and illness, few programs and regulations have been designed to help reduce these outcomes. Farmworkers and their families in the eastern US seldom have health insurance, and many of them have limited access to health care. The few efforts to reduce farmworker injury and illness seldom consider the culture and educational attainment of farmworkers or the effects of a migratory lifestyle. Long-term consequences of occupational and environmental exposures are virtually unknown (Arcury et al., 2009, p. 223). Who are these farmers and workers on small-scale organic farms in the Northeast? It turns out that the answer is not easily uncovered.1 The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducted an Organic Production Survey in 2008 that counted 14,540 organic farms and ranches in the United States, comprising 4.1 million acres of land. Of those farms, 10,903 were USDA certified and 3,637 were exempt from certification. In addition, they found that most producers sold their organic products locally. More than 44 percent reported selling within 100 miles of the farm, while 30 percent reported selling regionally (more than 100 miles but less than 500 miles from the farm). Another 24 percent reported selling nationally (500 or more miles from the farm), while only 2 1 Several data sources show how many agricultural workers there are, what types of crops they farm, the payment and benefits they receive, and their demographic characteristics. One such report is the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), which describes the demographic and employment characteristics of hired crop farmworkers. In addition to the National Agricultural Workers Survey, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regularly conducts a census of agriculture through its National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). NOFA Report 4 percent reported selling internationally (United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2008). The 2011 Organic Production Survey found that Wisconsin leads the nation with more than 110,000 acres harvested in 2011. Wisconsin is followed by New York, with organic growers harvesting more than 97,000 acres. California closely follows with more than 91,000 acres of organic field crops harvested in 2011 (United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2012). Nationally, 91 percent of all farms fall under the USDA small farm definition, which are places that sell less than $250,000 in agricultural products annually. The percentage of small farms is highest in the South and New England (United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2009). All of this information tells us little about small-scale organic agriculture in the northeastern United States. While these reports give us some information about who works on different types of farms nationwide, and even the types of farms predominant in different regions of the country, they offer little decisive information that tells us the story of farmers and laborers on organic farms in the Northeast. It is with this in mind that what follows in this report is a picture of who these farmers
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