S9 Ep2: The Price of Produce: Exposing the Harsh Realities of Agricultural Labor with Gerardo Reyes Chávez
“Suffering doesn't have to be part of the food we eat. Workers feed every family in this country, and it is only fair that everyone, everywhere should do something to make sure that farm workers have the same ability to feed their families with dignity and respect. And it doesn't take much. It takes for us to have these conversations.” —Gerardo Reyes Chávez
Series: Labor Day Special Episode
The food we consume is often built upon the backs of a vulnerable workforce struggling to maintain their dignity and basic rights. While we enjoy the convenience and affordability of our food, we must reckon with the unseen sacrifices made by the men, women, and children who toil in the fields, a sobering reality that challenges us to consider the true price we pay for the food we consume.
Gerardo Reyes Chávez is a seasoned farm worker and community organizer who has dedicated over 25 years to advocating for the rights of agricultural laborers. As a long-time member of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), Gerardo has been instrumental in the development and implementation of the groundbreaking Fair Food Program, which has dramatically improved working conditions and wages for tens of thousands of farm workers across the United States.
Tune in as Justine and Gerardo relate the stark contrasts between farm workers' cultural expectations and the harsh realities they face in the agricultural industry, the systemic nature of the abuses and exploitation they endure, the outsized power of major food brands driving industry consolidation and wage stagnation, the innovative and persistent approach of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in targeting this systemic change, the potential for replicating successful models like the Fair Food Program, and the critical importance of building solidarity and collective action between consumers, advocates, and the farm worker community to address the deep-rooted challenges in the food system.
Connect with Gerardo:
Gerardo Reyes Chávez is a distinguished farmworker advocate and a key leader of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). With a background in farm labor that began at the age of 11 in Zacatecas, Mexico, Gerardo has dedicated his life to improving the conditions and rights of farmworkers. He has worked in the fields of Florida, picking a variety of crops including oranges, tomatoes, blueberries, and watermelon.
As a leader in the CIW, Gerardo has played a pivotal role in the development and implementation of the Fair Food Program, which aims to protect workers from exploitation and improve labor conditions. His efforts include facilitating community meetings, educating workers about their rights, and attracting new buyers to support the program. Gerardo is also actively involved in addressing issues such as wage theft and modern-day slavery, ensuring that farmworkers’ voices are heard and their rights are upheld.
Gerardo’s work has been recognized nationally and internationally, and he frequently speaks at events to raise awareness about the challenges faced by farmworkers and the importance of ethical labor practices.
Episode Highlights:
00:50 Farmer vs Farm Worker
08:02 Overcoming Challenges and Abuse
15:41 The Role of the Coalition
20:32 Change the Farming Community
23:25 Suffering Should Not Be A Part of Our Food
Tweets:
The food we enjoy comes at a heavy human cost. Tune in as @jreichman and @ciw Co-Founder, Gerardo Reyes Chávez lift the veil on America’s farmlands and how we can all help to empower the hands that feed us. #podcast #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #Season9 #CoalitionofImmokaleeWorkers #CIW #Foodjustice #farmworkerrights #priceofproduce #slaveryinthefields #agricultureexploitation #dignityinthedirt #consumerresponsibility #systemicchange
Inspirational Quotes:
03:31 “The agricultural industry has always been … a bigger compilation of abuses. It's almost as if the humanity of workers is not even considered in many situations.” —Gerardo Reyes Chávez
10:08 “Hope was everything for us. We were very hopeful that the growers would sit at the table, talk to us, and we could finally start to collaborate. But in the end, they just closed the doors. We realized that our struggle needed to continue and that we needed to change tactics.” —Gerardo Reyes Chávez
12:51 “The battle of our community was not just to eliminate abuse— it was for the humanity itself of each worker in the fields.” —Gerardo Reyes Chávez
16:37 “We were asking them to guarantee to their consumers that the tomatoes they were using were not tainted by [slavery], and they couldn't, because they never pay attention. The only way to do that was by working with the community.” —Gerardo Reyes Chávez
20:37 “Try to find a way to apply the Fair Food Program into their own reality, into their own communities, because the Fair Food Program can be applied in other farms, as I was sharing earlier. It has proven to be the most effective system to protect workers' rights.” —Gerardo Reyes Chávez
23:10 “There should be no slavery, there should be fair wages. People should be able to eat and live good lives.” —Justine Reichman
23:30 “Know the stories of the people behind your food. Connect with them.” —Gerardo Reyes Chávez
23:47 “Suffering doesn't have to be part of the food we eat. Workers feed every family in this country, and it is only fair that everyone, everywhere should do something to make sure that farm workers have the same ability to feed their families with dignity and respect. And it doesn't take much. It takes for us to have these conversations.” —Gerardo Reyes Chávez
Transcriptions:
Justine Reichman: Good morning, and welcome to Essential Ingredients. I'm your host, Justine Reichman. With me today, I have Gerardo Reyes Chavez who is a farm worker and a community organizer, and a community leader. I'm really pleased to have you here.
Welcome Gerardo.
Gerardo Reyes Chavez: Thank you very much, Justine, for the invitation. Really excited to be here too.
Justine Reichman: Likewise. So Gerardo, if you would, could you let everybody know a little bit about you as a farmer. What does that mean? And let's just start there. So you as a farmer, if you would.
Gerardo Reyes Chavez: I'm not a farmer, I'm a farm worker. Sorry, I am really happy to share with you what it means. I have been a farm worker since I was a kid. First in Mexico, in the state of Zacatecas, that's where I'm from. And then working in the fields here in southwest Florida, in the community of Immokalee. The tomato industry is one of the biggest employers with companies based here in Florida, with production up and down the East Coast. And working here in the fields, you realize that there's a lot of lies that people talk about when they refer to working as a farm worker in the United States. So when I first arrived, my first two weeks of work, the boss didn't pay us. We asked for some money, 20 bucks after working almost two weeks so that we could buy utensils and some basic staples to cook our food, because we were getting sick with the food that was being sold by a relative. I think it was the sister in law of the crew leader. And when we talked with him, he got upset because we asked for $20 even though we had already worked. He owed us that money, so he got offended and said that he didn't have to give us any money or anything. And I told him that was not an honorable thing. Because where I come from, and he was also from Zacatecas, people that are considered good bosses take care of their workers and actually encourage you to take with you, or your family, whatever it is that you need so that you are not having to buy what you are producing already. And I told him that he was failing to honor those traditions that we came with. So we got kicked out of the trailer, the mobile home. He didn't pay us. So in the same week, we were moneyless, jobless, and homeless. And we didn't know anyone that was welcoming to US agriculture.
Justine Reichman: That's awful. I'm so sorry to hear that. So culturally, you both come from the same place so you have the same values. You would imagine your experience here. Did it shape or change the way that you think about it? Maybe, we come to the US and we lose our values, or it changes, or the values in the US are different? Or was it an isolated incident?
Gerardo Reyes Chavez: No. I think that in US agriculture, that's very common. Very common thing that happens very often. Because if you think about it, the agricultural industry has always been a place of work where many of the abuses that we think of the industries are happening here. But it's kind of like a bigger compilation of abuses. It's almost as if the humanity of workers is not even considered in many, many situations. And the reason why, and I'm part of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which is the organization that I've been working with for the past 25 years since I arrived. Working in the fields, participating in everything they did because I met in that desperate search for work. I was telling you that we didn't have a job. We didn't know anyone. So we met with this crew leader from the orange production. They are called chivero's because of the, it's kind of like a truck with a scissor-like box that empties all the oranges to be taken to the factory. So this chivero was the connection between workers who escaped, in the case of modern day slavery, in the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
So we ended up meeting him in this desperate search for work, and he connected us with these workers that were coming back at that time from Chicago to work with him. That was a year after, or earlier that year. Their case was prosecuted, and we became roommates. So they introduced me to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Share their stories. We share our stories. And then I started to get involved because of that. And since then, I've been part of it. So in that process, you learn a lot about all the abuses while working in the fields. We saw many things that were wrong going on. Then as part of the coalition, we learn about how those were not isolated incidents. And in reality, if anybody tries to advance within the context of an industry in which an entire community is being taken advantage of by the industry in many different forms, sexual harassment, situations of Violence, wage theft, stagnation of wages for decades since 1978 for more than 30 years, it was 40 to 45 cents per 32 pound bucket of tomatoes that you harvest without any of the protections that are granted by that National Labor Relations Act signed in the 30's. Because that act, in order to pass during the New Year, excluded workers because of racist reasons in main workforce in agriculture and also in a domestic--
Justine Reichman: I wanted to just ask, I didn't want to interrupt. But when you joined the coalition initially, what were you most hopeful for, both for yourself as well as for the community as a whole. What changes could you help make? What resources could they provide to help you create this change so others would not come into the US and have these similar experiences, or even live here and have these experiences?
Gerardo Reyes Chavez: Yeah. Well, I got involved. Started to go to the meetings coalition every Wednesday during the season here in this part of Florida from October to May, or June, depending on the company. And then following the season in two different states. That's what most people do. So when I was participating with the coalition, they were organizing a march. This march was a mile march starting from the neighboring city of Fort Myers, and ending in Orlando where the Florida fruit and vegetables association is located. And they represent all growers of the agricultural industry in all crops. So when I got involved, I got to meet many of my friends, and I became a marshal.
Justine Reichman: What does a Marshall mean in that community?
Gerardo Reyes Chavez: During the action, you need people to direct the marchers. So I was wearing a vest with some of my friends that were part of this case of modern day slavery, although all of them were also helping to direct people so that we would work in a single line or two lines. In fact, the first words that I started to use in English were single file, please. Just trying to do our part. And we were marching. We were meeting with churches, different denominations. We were seeing how people would come and support us. Bring water for the marches. Our action would swell when we were crossing to different little towns in this area, and we were also bringing a lady of liberty. This lady of liberty was brown, created by our community with a friend of ours that I think she's living in Arizona right now. And she helped us. Her name is Kat Rodriguez. She helped us to create that, and that was our symbol. It was a brown lady of liberty with a tomato on her hand instead of a torch. And instead of the tablet, she had a tomato pocket. The inscription at the bottom, at the base where she was standing said, I too, I'm America. Or in a reference to the movement in the 60's when the African American community was stating, I am a man. I think that was the statement that was written about many of the signs because of the fact that humanity was not even being recognized.
So we brought our own symbol, and that statue is now sitting at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. In case you traveled there at some point and went to visit it. All of this is to say that I was able to immerse myself into a completely different world where hope was everything for us. We were very hopeful that the growers would sit at the table, talk to us, and we could finally start to collaborate. But at the end, they just closed the doors, gave the day off to everyone. And we realized that our struggle needed to continue, and that we needed to change tactics. Before that, if I may, in the 90's, that coalition, the community and the coalition organized three general strikes. One in 1995. That was the first one with more than 3000 workers. Another in 97, and another one in 99. All of them were asking for dialog, a place on the table to talk about how to eliminate the abuses from this industry. And demanding an increase in wages that were not enough to be able to maintain your family, pay rent, and be able to leave. So there was a hunger strike also between 1997 and 98. And during this hunger strike of 30 days by six workers, they were asking for a place on the table.
Justine Reichman: You go back to the hunger strike talk. Tell me about this hunger strike again. When was the hunger strike?
Gerardo Reyes Chavez: The hunger strike happened before my time. It was at the end of 97, beginning of 98. iI was with six workers that went without food for 30 days. They gained a lot of attention from the media. Former President Jimmy Carter also was following this. He actually asked the workers to stop the hunger strike, committing himself to try to talk to the industry in Florida, talk to the growers. And try to see if he could, with his influence, try to facilitate dialect. But that didn't happen. And what happened there was that a grower was asked by a smaller grower. Why not sit at the table with these workers? Because by then, some of them had gone to the hospital in really bad shape, and a lot of attention was being placed on the Immokalee for the first time. So when this grower was asked, why not sit at the table? You don't have to concede to any of the demands, but then you think that they have already earned a seat on the table to be heard. The answer of this grower was, I'm going to put it to you this way. A tractor doesn't tell a farmer how to run the farm. So with that statement, it was clear that the battle of our community was not just to eliminate abuse as what wasn't just to increase the payment per bucket that was stagnant for so long, but it was much more fundamental. It was for the humanity itself of each worker in the fields. So that's what brought us.
The action that I participated in 2000 was the last action focusing on the growers. And the conversation at that point started to shift, wondering how we can affect a systemic change in this industry instead of trying to fix one abuse after another. One case of modern day slavery after another, because there was a case happening in almost every year of modern day slavery. So at that moment, we started to analyze the market. Then we saw a publication on the packer where Taco Bell was talking about the connection they had with some of the growers here. So we did our homework, studied the market and realized that a few decades before, maybe three or four decades before, many of these brands that we see today from the fast food to supermarkets, to food providers in general, the retail food industry in the country was growing incredibly quickly. Especially fast food.
There were ideas in some regions of the country. They became very popular, and they started to spread. And with that, something that the retail food industry called the power of the purchasing order was growing to a point in which they determined prices, quality, size of the tomato, state of maturity. But the connection, the direct connection with us was the fact that the more they grew, the cheaper they wanted to have the produce they needed. So the agricultural industry consolidated over those decades becoming bigger operations because the only way to survive was to actually increase production with a short on profits. A decrease in profits. They could only keep in business by expanding as much as they could by cutting costs of production. And that's why farm workers continue to receive, for more than three decades, the same 40 to 45 cents of $1 since 1978. Which means that in a single day, a worker would have two and a half tons of tomatoes just to catch up with minimum wage. And every time that there was an increase in minimum wage, that meant more pressure because the payment was per bucket.
Justine Reichman: What role does the coalition have in helping to create change around this?
Gerardo Reyes Chavez: We as a community, when we made that connection and that analysis, we thought that Taco Bell would be our partner. That they would want to know what was going on in their own supply chain, and that they would want to see change just like we did by using their market power. But we were naive. That was our first campaign. We sent letters asking them to sit at the table, sharing with them some of the cases of modern day slavery that had happened, and bringing a question. The question was, if they could guarantee that there was no modern day slavery in the tomatoes they were using. And with that, we were not saying that they were enslaving workers in these cases of modern day slavery. But we were asking them to guarantee to their consumers that the tomatoes they were using were not tainted by it. And they couldn't, because they never pay attention. The only way to do that was by working with the community. So we crafted our demands. One of them was to pay a penny more per pound that would go directly to workers, and the other one was zero tolerance for modern day slavery. Which means that they would be willing to cut purchases immediately if there was a case of modern day slavery in any of the operations where they were buying from in Florida.
And the third one, the creation of a code of conduct that would be crafted by us as workers, and a seat on the table so that we could ensure that whatever would go into that code of conduct, we would be monitoring what was happening in the fields. And with a legally binding agreement. So we realized that we needed to start a campaign, because they didn't respond favorably to any of these. They denied that they had responsibility. And from there, we started a boycott of taco, a national boycott. Not many people outside of Florida knew about us or the conditions we had to confront every day. So the tours that we did lasted two weeks. We stopped in 15 different cities on the way to urban California where the headquarters of Taco Bell is. And on the way back in 15 days, 17 different cities in every city would spread out to do the presentations simultaneously. Sometimes five presentations in the same city at the same time. And the two bosses of workers, we leave the fields to go on these tours where there are intense on wheel training facilities. Because we talked about this in preparation for the tour with every member of the community during the meetings. But not many people, not many of us knew how to talk publicly, how to do presentations so we would use that trip to talk about those things to prepare ourselves. And then we will do our part.
The boycott of Taco Bell lasted for years in 2005. Its foreign company brand in Louisville, Kentucky signed onto the program. And not too far from that moment, the rest of the young brands, which includes Pizza Hut, were the largest conglomerate of fast food in the world. They also included that program more in a symbolic way, because pizza doesn't use much fresh tomatoes. But nonetheless, all young brands embraced the program in 2005. That was due to consumers across the country organizing with us and supporting these. More than 300 universities stood in solidarity with us in their campuses and started their own campaign, which they called Boot The Bell. And consisted of talking with the administration of the university, with athletic departments to cut ties with Taco Bell unless Taco Bell decided to join the Fair Food Program. Now, what was the result of all this?28 Taco Bells, those contracts were cut. The restaurants were moved. 28 contracts, and some of them being with athletic departments in some universities. So it was the consumers and farm workers creating this power to be able to sit at the table and negotiate the first Fair Food Agreement.
Justine Reichman: Gerardo, can you make three recommendations for those folks that maybe are looking to create change within their farming community that maybe are experiencing some of these challenges?
Gerardo Reyes Chavez: Well, one recommendation is to try to find a way to apply the fair food program into their own reality, into their own communities because the Fair Food Program can be applied in other farms, as I was sharing earlier. It has proven to be the most effective system to protect workers rights.
Justine Reichman: Can you quantify that for me and tell me what kind of impact it's had for those individuals? How many individuals, what percentage of individuals is this now protecting versus before?
Gerardo Reyes Chavez: Well, I think that it is about 11,000 new workers with the most recent expansion. More than 30,000 workers with the program implemented the years prior to the USDA announcement. It has also served as a model for workers in other sectors. Like their industry in Vermont, they replicated the protections and adapted them with our support to craft their own Code of Conduct, and including all the rites that they needed internationally. This has served as a blueprint for workers in the textile industry. For example, in Bangladesh, with the International accord. Pakistan, most recently is a country where it has most recently expanded, and we are in conversations right now. Ongoing conversations with vessel owners in Europe. We had the visit of a delegation of Scottish keepers that are interested in adapting the protections that we crafted for the fields to their own industry.
Justine Reichman: You've given us so much information, and you guys have made such great strides since you joined the coalition. And since you're participating, you personally get to see and reap the rewards of it. So for those folks that want to help create change in their environment, as you said, a lot of these programs are adaptable for them so they should take advantage of that. And I guess my question to you, as we wrap this all up is, as you've gone through the process, what have you learned that you can share so that people can make more effective change and to continue to create change as time goes on, and make sure that these slavery, the fair wages, all that stuff is really where it should be. There should be no slavery, there should be fair wages. People should be able to eat and live good lives. So what would you recommend to those folks, not in your community, not part of the coalition as a first step in working to create change?
Gerardo Reyes Chavez: Well, the first step I would say is to know the stories of the people behind you. Food, obviously. And to connect with them. Very often, when people talk about farm work, people assume that there's nothing that can be done. But our community has proven that that's not the case. Suffering doesn't have to be part of the food we eat. And when we see how people don't have to give up their dignity anymore. People are treated with dignity and respect, and how all of these can be expanded to more and more workers. I think that we all have an obligation. Because at the end, workers feed every family in this country. And I think that it is only fair that everyone, everywhere should do something to make sure that farm workers have the same ability to feed their families with dignity and respect. And it doesn't take much. It takes for us to have these conversations to understand where each farm worker is coming from, the difficulties that we have to confront and to work together to work in solidarity. And the more people get close to how this works, the more possibilities we have to continue to expand to other farms. And hopefully, this can become the norm. We can make it possible.
Justine Reichman: Awesome. Gerardo, thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you sharing your stories, your lessons learned, and the little tidbits that you've added for those in a similar place trying to create change within their community. So I hope to see you continue to make great strides, and continue to be an advocate and part of the coalition. I can't wait to hear how things progress, how you guys continue to make partnerships and grow within this industry in a really positive way.
Gerardo Reyes Chavez: Thank you very much for having us. It is an honor to share with you and with your audience. And I would recommend people that if you want to learn more, please check our website. There's a ton of information there. It's ciw-online.org, and you can support it in any way. You can stand with us, that's another way of supporting us. Stand with us when we do the calls to action in regards to the campaign for fair food, because we're asking corporations like Wendy's, Kroger to join onto the program. And you can also become a sustainer of these efforts. And all of that information is right there, very accessible. Thank you so much for having us.
Justine Reichman: Thank you.
