At a unique gathering March 1-2 in Issaquah WA, 25 workers from EFI farms in Canada, the US and Mexico sat down with 21 leaders from 8 produce growers and 7 retail executives to talk about how best to create and share value in the produce industry. EFI board members and staff joined the group for 2 days of frank and open discussion.
Through breakout sessions and plenary discussion, with simultaneous interpretation and skilled facilitation, these experts from every link in the produce supply chain talked about how they could improve farmworker compensation by helping growers and retailers achieve higher levels of efficiency and assurance.
The Equitable Food Initiative (EFI) was conceived and launched by a consortium of labor unions, advocacy groups, produce suppliers and buyers to improve working conditions, pest management and food safety in the produce industry. Over several years, this consortium has developed a set of rigorous standards to which farms could be certified through training and workforce development designed to create value for workers, growers and retailers alike.
The EFI Standards, published in 2013, included a requirement that workers earn at least $9.05 per hour. But that wage has become obsolete in the US, and irrelevant as EFI expands our certification into Canada, Mexico and beyond.
EFI brought our stakeholders together to help develop a new formula to make sure workers are fairly compensated for their verification role, and that suppliers and customers derive the value they need from EFI’s workforce development and certification. The EFI board is now charged with turning recommendations from the summit into a revised standard for fair compensation. EFI will announce that revision in the coming weeks.
