Sustainability Institute, CGWR and Student Farm offer Food Worker Justice events

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Before you sit down to Thanksgiving this year, the Sustainability Institute at Penn State, Center for Global Workers’ Rights and Ross Student Farm invite you to consider the frequently brutal working conditions of the many workers it took to bring food to your table. 

At 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15, in the HUB-Robeson Flex Theatre, a talk will be held as part of the Student Farm's Food Justice Lecture Series and willl feature speakers from the non-profit CATA, The Farmworkers Support Committee. 

Continuing their Landscapes of Labor series that is part of SI’s "Intersections" film program, the group will also present an online labor rights film screening of "Food Chains" at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16. Following the film, there will be a panel featuring Penn State faculty and staff and speakers from CATA.

“In addition to our ongoing partnership on this series with the Center for Global Workers' Rights, we are thrilled to be partnering with the Student Farm on this particular film, as we met this summer and agreed food can spark important conversations and a sense of community among every one at Penn State," said Sophia Marsh, a junior plant sciences major and student sustainability coordinator intern at SI.

"We are really grateful to have CATA representatives share their personal experiences and expertise on agricultural labor and workers’ rights during these two events,” said Marta Plumhoff, food systems coordinator with the Ross Student Farm. “We hope that these discussions can foster a better general understanding and appreciation of how food is produced in our country, but also encourage attendees to employ that understanding in their lives by taking action, like via food choices or legislative support, when they are able.”  

"Food Chains" tells the story of tomato pickers in Immokalee, Florida, who stage a hunger strike to call for pay increases of a mere penny per pound of tomatoes picked — a meager increase that would nevertheless double their pay. The film offers an inside look into how the agricultural labor industry works and what has changed (or hasn’t) for farmworkers over the decades, including inhumane physical demands and unsafe exposures to pesticides and heat. Following the film, a panel discussion will feature Plumhoff; Amy Snipes, associate professor of biobehavioral health; and Erika Perez and Edgar Aquino-Huerta, organizers from CATA. 

The Ross Student Farm will begin this overarching conversation the day before with the latest talk in its Food Justice Lecture Series. Perez and Aquino-Huerta will speak on their experiences organizing farm labor. By understanding what the fight for labor rights looks like at a local level, this discussion can offer the Penn State community insight into these issues on a global scale.  

All events are free and open to students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. Pre-registration is required to attend the film at this link. 

For more information about the series, or if you are interested in co-sponsoring future films and/or speakers, please contact Sophia Marsh (sam7405@psu.edu) or Molly Gulden (mrg5841@psu.edu).