Join CSPI on Tuesday, April 28th from 3pm - 4pm ET for "Labor Across the Food System," a panel discussion on the role of labor in the food system, one of the most important industries in our economy. Representing different perspectives in the food system, each panelist brings expertise based on years of protecting workers' rights and fighting for social justice.
This session aims to:
Raise awareness about the current conditions of laborers in the food system at different points in the food supply chain
Discuss which policies and initiatives would improve the conditions and livelihood of laborers and how the current political system views labor rights
Share resources and steps for further awareness and action for consumers
Speakers & Panelists:
Anita Adalja (any/all) is the Director of Not Our Farm, one of CSPI's partners. Anita has spent many years working on farms including non-profit, for-profit, urban and rural farms across the country. Her heart is focused on safety, dignity and financial security for farmworkers. In 2019, she founded Not Our Farm, a non-profit farmworker storytelling and power building project that works to build power among farmworkers by cultivating a community in which farmworkers share their stories and skills, create resources, and form relationships with each other. Anita is also a farmer at Ashokra Farm, a small farm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a farm food safety practitioner the NM Grown Approved Supplier program where she leads community education for farmers rooted in labor, dignity and community care.
Debbie Berkowitz (she/her) is a Fellow at the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. She is a worker safety advocate and expert, focusing on the dangers facing food workers. Previous positions include the Health and Safety Director of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the Food and Services Department of the AFL-CIO, the Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor at OSHA, and the Worker Safety Program Director at the National Employment Law Project.
Teresa Marie Mares (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of Food Systems Graduate Program at the University of Vermont. For the past two decades, Dr. Mares has been conducting ethnographic research on topics related to food security, immigration, labor, and food justice, both in the Pacific Northwest and in New England. She is the author of Life on the Other Border: Farmworkers and Food Justice in Vermont (UC Press 2019) and co-author of Will Work for Food: Labor Across the Food Chain (UC Press 2025).
This event is hosted as a part of CSPI’s Resource Hub Training Series. We invite organizations and community advocates to join us, as we at CSPI learn alongside our partners and community at large to build power and share knowledge across disciplines on a myriad of social, economic, and environmental justice issues.
Este seminario virtual será en inglés y lo ofreceremos con interpretación y traducción al español en tiempo real.