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16 Jul The Role of Immigrants and the Local Food Movement

I’ve stressed the importance of knowing the source of your food. Do you know who grew it and how it got to your plate? With organizations such Local Harvest and in New York City, Just Food. You can find easily locate farms, farmers markets and learn about CSA’s in your area. But let’s take it one step further. We know much of the cheap labor comes from migrant workers who are not compensated or treated fairly and in many cases underage (which is completely legal in the United States by the way).

Fortunately there are programs like the New Farmer Development Project which works to identify, educate, and supports immigrants with agricultural experience to establish their own economically and environmentally sustainable small farm business. There are others like Viva Farms who launched the first bilingual “Agricultural Entrepreneurship and Farm Business Planning” course, granting them access to shared infrastructure, equipment and low-interest educational loans and minimizes participants’ start-up costs.

While vegans and vegetarians abstain from animal foods as a means of protest against the ethical mistreatment of them, have you ever taken into consideration the way the humans responsible for growing your food are treated as well? You might want to. The video below is a must-see. You can view the movie for free here.

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