Dignified Work & Fair Wages

At PIF, we believe in the dignity of farm work. That means we believe that the growers who steward our land and provide our communities with healthy food deserve fair compensation for their labor.

We cannot seek to rejuvenate our local food systems before recognizing the broader role that issues of labor and immigration have played in shaping modern American agriculture. Specifically, agricultural labor has always been systematically devaluated, and the labor of farmers of color and foreign-born farm workers has been particularly devalued.

Today, farmworkers – and particularly foreign-born farmworkers – play an important role in sustaining food security and increasing food access in their local communities. However, farmworkers often face harsh working conditions without proper compensation for their work. More often than not, farm work is not covered by labor laws and farmworkers do not have collective bargaining agreements, making farmworkers particularly vulnerable to volatile food and labor markets.

All workers deserve full labor protection and fair wages. Thus, farmworkers should be paid accordingly and with the proper protection such as fair wages, safe working environments, and unemployment insurance. Supporting the transition of migrant farmworkers to citizenship and recognizing farmworkers’ crucial contribution to society will help stabilize the American food system and increase food resiliency.

Learn more about dignified work and fair wages for farmworkers and New American farmworkers below.

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