Oakland Food Policy Council

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a forum on local food procurement held by Kaiser Permanente. The featured guest was Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm, and Kaiser Permanente's Dr. Preston Maring hosted. The discussion ranged from food regulations written in such a way that it is difficult or impossible for small or new farmers to compete, to innovative ways that Mr. Salatin's farm has succeeded in working with large chains such as Chipotle. Mr. Salatin also talked about labor a bit. Polyface Farm raises food animals, which means that animals have be to "processed", or to put it bluntly, killed. But at Polyface no one person has that task every day, the way a worker at an industrial slaughterhouse would. As Mr. Salatin stated, it is not emotionally healthy to kill animals every day, in addition to the fact that performing the same motion over and over can lead to the repetitive stress injuries common in large slaughterhouses.

So staying on the subject of farm labor, at the end of the event OFPC member Danny Kramer introduced me to Gail Wadsworth of the California Institute for Rural Studies. Ms. Wadsworth handed me a copy of "Fair Food: Field to Table", a new documentary that lays out the "the harsh realities of farmworker conditions and, more importantly, the promise of improved farm labor practices in American agriculture." The film is presented in three parts, focusing in turn on farmworkers, farm owners, and advocates for good food. You can see each section on YouTube below, and the total runtime is about 20 minutes.

PART 1: THE FARMWORKERS (5:05)

PART 2: THE FARMERS (7:21)

PART 3: THE ADVOCATES (8:06)

Have a look, and please share this with your network!