Pathways for advancing good work in food systems: Reflecting on the international Good Work for Good Food Forum

Abstract

The crucial roles that workers, especially seasonal and migrant workers, play in our food systems have come under renewed attention in recent years. The coronavirus pandemic resulted in food work­ers being recognized as critical or essential workers in many countries. In 2021, this coincided with the UN International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV), highlighting the importance of horticul­tural crops to healthy lives globally. Yet, workers’ quality of life in this most labor-intensive form of food production is often disregarded, or in the case of the UN IYFV, misconstrued. The agriculture-migration nexus—on which food systems depend—remains recognized as a challenge, yet there is limited debate about how it could be ameliorated and a lack of articulation of desirable alternatives. While alternative food and peasant movements propose food system transformation and alternative labor futures based on agroecology, labor lawyers and other advocates propose regula­tion and formalization of workplace regimes to ensure fair working conditions. Most recently, a third pos­sibility has emerged from agri-tech innovators: a techno-centric future with far fewer agricultural work­ers. These three archetypes of agricultural labor futures (agroecological, formally regulated, and techno-centric) have the potential to leave food scholars and activists without a unified, coherent vision to advance. Addressing this gap, this paper reports and builds on insights harvested from the international Good Work for Good Food Forum, organized by the authors with the aim of shaping consensus on positive visions for work in food systems. About 40 scholar-activists across three continents discussed the current challenges facing food workers and crafted a collective vision for good food work. This vision is documented in the form of nine principles supported by a framework of seven enabling pathways. We conclude by em­pha­sizing the need for a people-centered incor­poration of technology and a re-valuation of food workers’ contributions to global food systems. We offer the vision as a collective platform for action to advocate for and organize with workers in food systems.

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“…This session was organized by the GFASG in collaboration with the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD). JAFSCD has long been a supporter of GFASG scholar-activist sessions and of scholar-activist work through publishing reflective essays about similar discussions among scholars and practitioners focused on critical food systems topics (de Witt et al, 2021;Hammelman et al, 2020;Klassen et al, 2022;Levkoe et al, 2016Levkoe et al, , 2018Rice & Goldberg, 2021; also see the JAFSCD special issue on Indigenous Food Sovereignty in North America, volume 9, supplement 2, 2019).…”

Comparing social sustainability assessment indicators and tools for bio-districts: building an analytical framework

“…To this end, content analysis was used to identify whether some social issues are under-or over-represented in the current narrative on bio-districts. It was used as a research technique because it is objective, systematic and generalizable to measure variables (Kerlinger, 1986). Moreover, "it goes beyond the impressionistic observations about the phenomena and can help you make a quantitative expression about the phenomenon" (Prasad, 2008).…”

“…In addition, awareness of the conditions under which food is produced is often missing, leading to human rights violations (Farnsworth et al, 2018), with many agricultural commodity supply chains characterized by inadequate working conditions, overlooked land rights and gender inequality (UNDESA, 2021). Only after the shocks caused by increasing economic and political instability, has the critical importance of food workers and their value to society been recognized, which contrasts sharply with the typically hidden nature of such labor (Klassen et al, 2023).…”

Moving beyond awareness to action and food system transformation: prioritizing labor in food systems governance work

“…In addition, some literature discusses the food movement slowly broadening its focus to look beyond the goal of 'sustainable food' and include workers across the food chain and sustainable food production (Gray, 2013;Lo, 2014). Beyond these focus areas, several themes emerged in the literature, including the invisibility of food and farm workers in food systems discussions (Jayaraman, 2014;Hall, 2015;Coplen, 2018;Lozanski and Baumgartner, 2020); a lack of direct engagement by CSOs with food and farm workers (Lo, 2014;Weiler et al, 2016); initiatives and opportunities for including labor in CSOs food systems work (Lo and Jacobson, 2011;Perry, 2019;Klassen et al, 2023); tensions that influence CSOs in their engagement with workers (Myers and Sbicca, 2015;Perry, 2019); and finally how governance spaces may provide an opening for meaningful action (Klassen et al, 2022).…”

“…There are indications that this is beginning to shift, as food movement actors have begun to connect their interests in sustainability and food quality with the issues labor activists have long been engaged with (Levkoe et al, 2016;Klassen et al, 2023). This has predominantly taken the form of awareness raising and/or public education initiatives, drawing attention to issues of labor exploitation or seeking support for a particular policy change.…”