Farm Worker Awareness Week

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Each year around the time of Cesar Chavez's birthday, people across the country organize workshops, film screenings, events and actions to honor and learn more about the people who harvest our food. There are several Farm Worker Awareness Week events taking place in North Carolina this week - check them out! Several exciting workshops for and about farm workers will be featured at this weekend's conference, Bridge to an Organic Future, the National Pesticide Forum taking place in Carrboro this year. >>Farm Worker Awareness Week Events Calendar >>Details and registration for Bridge to an Organic Future It's estimated that in our state, about 100,000 - 150,000 farm workers plant, tend and harvest our crops every year, particularly in labor-intensive crops like tomatoes, vegetables, Christmas trees and tobacco. Overexposure to pesticides is one of many injustices they face on the job - current standards for pesticide safety are not enough to keep workers safe. And, as we've seen in the news about the Ag-Mart case over the past few years, farms don't always meet even these inadequate safety standards. Farm workers are are often kept from reporting misuse of pesticides because of language barriers, lack of information about their rights, or fear of retaliation from their employers. If we are called to reduce pesticide pollution in our food and water, then we must also answer the call to protect the rights of farm workers and change the system that keeps them from speaking up about injustice they encounter on the job. Take Action Today! Join Toxic Free NC and our allies at one of several Farm Worker Awareness Week events in North Carolina this week, and check out Bridge to an Organic Future, the National Pesticide Forum in Carrboro. Also, consider becoming a Toxic Free NC Ambassadors for Just & Sustainable Agriculture this Spring, and speak out about justice for farm workers. Many thanks!

A farm worker in Eastern NC shows off the thick callouses he's developed during a long growing season. Photo by Ana Duncan Pardo. Take action Today! >>Find Farm Worker Awareness Week events >>Learn more about becoming an Ambassador for Just & Sustainable Agriculture >>Support our work - donate today!

 

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Farm Worker Awareness Week - NC Calendar

Tuesday, March 31

Power, People, Poultry: Local Chicken Dinner + Panel Discussion
Where: UNC-Chapel Hill, Quad outside Manning
Who: FLO + Alianza + Farmworker Advocacy Network
Time: 5:30pm
Contact for details: alianza@unc.edu

Wednesday, April 1

Bandana Project: Confronting Sexual Violence Against Farmworker Women (Training)
Where: 1012 Oberlin Road; Raleigh, NC 27604
Who: NC Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCCASA), the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and Legal Aid of NC Farmworker Unit (LANC)
Time: 1pm-5pm
More information.

Farmworker Awareness Presentation
Where: NC State Wesley Campus Ministry
Who: Alexandria Jones, National Farm Worker Ministry
Contact: Alexandria Jones, 919 489-4485.

Farmworkers and Globalization Presentation
Where: NC State University
Who: Student Action with Farmworkers
Time: 5-6pm
Contact: Student Action with Farmworkers, 919 660-3652.

Film Screening: Children in the Fields
Where: Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University
Who: Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs
Time: 6:30-9pm
Contact: Student Action with Farmworkers, 919 660-3652.

Thursday, April 2

Speaker & Film Screening: Crossing Arizona
Where: UNC-Chapel Hill, Gardner Hall
Who: Alianza & Student Action with Farmworkers
Time: 7pm
Contact: alianza@unc.edu

Friday, April 3

Pesticide & Policy Day
Where: UNC-Chapel Hill Quad
Who: Alianza & Toxic Free NC
Time: 10am-2pm
Contact: alianza@unc.edu

National Pesticide Forum: Bridge to an Organic Future
Where: Century Center, Carrboro
Who: Beyond Pesticides and Toxic Free NC
Time: 1-11pm
Information and registration.

Saturday, April 4

National Pesticide Forum: Bridge to an Organic Future
Where: Century Center, Carrboro
Who: Beyond Pesticides and Toxic Free NC
Time: 8am-7:30pm
Information and registration.

Note, Saturday's line up at the National Pesticide Forum includes the following panels & workshops:

• 10:45am - 12:15pm: Cultivating Worker Leadership
  Francisco Risso, Workers United of Western North Carolina, Morganton, NC
  Gustavo Aguirre, Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment, Delano, CA
  Margaret Reeves, Ph.D., Pesticide Action Network North America, San Francisco, CA

• 12:15 - 1:45pm Lunch presentation: Social Justice and Food Production
  Baldemar Velasquez, Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO, Toledo, OH
  Routt Reigart, M.D., Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

• 3:30 - 5:00pm Farmworker Health Training
  Floribella Redondo, Campesinos sin Fronteras, Yuma, AZ
  Griselda Alonso-Rojas, Fuquay-Varina Promotoras, Fuquay-Varina, NC
  Janeth Tapia, North Carolina Farmworkers Project, Benson, NC
  Ana Pardo, Toxic Free North Carolina, Raleigh, NC

• 7:30-8:30pm National Pesticide Forum Keynote: Jim Hightower
  Where: Community Church of Chapel Hill
  Who: Beyond Pesticides and Toxic Free NC

Tuesday, April 7

SAF Book Club: Illegal People
Where: The Regulator Bookshop, Durham
Who: Student Action with Farmworkers
Time: 7-9pm
Contact: Student Action with Farmworkers, 919 660-3652.

 

>>Not in NC? Check out the National Farm Worker Awareness Week Calendar.