For Community Members
Photo credit: David Crump, Farmworker Assoc. of Florida
An Alliance of Workers, Farmers, and Communities
The Agricultural Justice Project works to build a food system that is fair and just for everyone who grows, handles, processes, sells, and serves the food we eat. Workers suffer and small farmers struggle to stay on the land because of stark imbalances of power in the food system and in the economy more generally. In this context, building justice means building power, and we strive to build the power of workers and small-scale farmers through everything we do. We firmly believe that in order to get the food system we need and deserve we must build a broad, united movement of farmers, farm and food workers, values-driven food businesses, and eaters, with special emphasis on the demands of those who are most marginalized.
We invite community members to join us in this work. There are a number of different ways you can take part in this movement:
Learn about injustices in the food system
Learn about Food Justice Certification
Spread the word about FJC to farms, food businesses, and institutions that buy food
Support Food Justice Certified farms & businesses
Follow the AJP & subscribe to our newsletter
Support the Agricultural Justice Project
Join up with allied movement organizations
Whose voice is missing?
In its relentless pursuit of profit, our capitalist food system deliberately obscures the ways it exploits both people and planet. If we’re ever going to win a fair food system, we need strong connections of solidarity between the people who grow, process, ship, prepare, and sell food and the people who eat and buy it. AJP helps educate the public on the actual working and living conditions of people in food and farming, including through our oral history project, Hungry for Justice: Whose Voice Is Missing?
We also regularly boost the campaigns and calls to action of front-line community organizers through our social media feeds. We encourage you to follow these groups directly and support their work.
Learn about Food Justice Certification
Food Justice Certified (FJC) is a food label for farms, food businesses, and retailers that’s based on rigorous social justice standards for labor and trade practices. FJC standards were written by farmworkers, community-scale farmers, and other advocates for food justice, and these same stakeholders oversee the FJC certification program. See our Food Justice Certification page for more details, and see the video below for a look at what Food Justice Certification has meant for one farm:
AJP fundraises to make certification free for many farms
The Agricultural Justice Project recognizes that farms have tight margins and struggle with additional cost burdens. For this reason, AJP raises funds through donations and grants to pay for the costs of certification for small-to-mid-size farms and for BIPOC farmers. This funding is available to cover both certification and any assistance preparing for certification.
We appreciate any and all donations in support of farms seeking Food Justice Certification. See our donation page for ways to give.
Spread the word in your community
Please consider sharing information about the AJP and Food Justice Certification with workers, farmers, and food businesses in your community! As a small non-profit, the Agricultural Justice Project often relies on word of mouth to reach workers, farms, and food businesses. Feel free to direct people to our website or share these flyers on our work:
Summary: What does FJC offer to farm workers?
A quick introduction to Food Justice Certification standards for farm workers.
Summary: What does FJC offer to farmers?
A quick introduction to Food Justice Certification standards for farmers.
Factsheet: FJC for businesses
A quick introduction to Food Justice Certification and the FJC standards for food businesses.
Factsheet: FJC for brand holders
A quick introduction to Food Justice Certification and the FJC standards for brand holders.
Support Food Justice Certified farms & businesses
Community members who live near Food Justice Certified farms and businesses can buy their products as a way to show support, but that’s not the only way to send these folks love.
Follow these farms and businesses on social media, and thank them for doing the hard work to get Food Justice Certified and build the movement for food justice! Some of them also accept donations or sell merchandise to support their work.
Lola's Organic Farm, Glenwood, GA
Farmers Jennifer Taylor and her husband Ron Gilmore grow organic vegetables, fruits, nuts, and cover crops all year on about four organic acres of a 32-acre organic certified farm land in rural Georgia. Jennifer’s grandmother farmed this very land before her. Lola’s Organic Farm is the only certified organic farm in the county and in surrounding counties.
The farm has a ripple effect that goes far beyond middle Georgia, as these black indigenous farmers promote the important role of resource-poor small farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers and the benefits of agroecology-organic farming systems agriculture through hands-on learning sessions at Lola’s Organic Farm. Jennifer also participates on several local, national, and international boards whose focus is organic agriculture.
Given at her organic farm, that she does not hire employees, her focus is on growing the farm, and sharing knowledge-training and learning experiences on agroecology-organic farming systems that add success and value to small farmers and their healthy foods environments, and communities. If you are interested in learning more about Lola’s Organic Farm, email lolasorganics@gmail.com.
Pie Ranch, Pescadero, CA
Pie Ranch has been training young farmers and providing educational programs for high school students since 2003. A working farm and an educational and cultural center, Pie Ranch “cultivates a healthy and just food system from seed to table through food education, farmer training, and regional partnerships.” Executive and Program Directors Jered Lawson and Nancy Vail chose to apply for Food Justice Certification to underscore their commitment to social justice. As they put it, “Pie Ranch is a place for ‘pie in the sky’ idealistic thinking to guide social change… We believe enjoyable and thoughtful engagement with good food can bring individuals, families and institutions — from children to school boards — together to create a more healthful and just society.”
Website / Instagram, Facebook / Online store (food & merchandise)
Roxbury Farm, Kinderhook, NY
Sisters Jody Bolluyt and Keri Latiolais own and manage Roxbury Farm CSA along with a talented team of farmers on 400 acres of protected land in Kinderhook, NY. Roxbury Farm CSA is a community supported farm: a partnership between the farmers and the customers working together to create a regenerative organic food system that works for everyone. The 900-plus members of the CSA provide a guaranteed market for the farm's products allowing the farm to pay better wages to people working on the farm, use regenerative farming practices, raise livestock humanely, and to share farming knowledge with other farmers.
Jody says, "Applying for Food Justice Certification with AJP was a concrete step our farm could take in order to work towards a just food system, a system that works to meet the needs of everyone involved."
Website / Instagram, Facebook / Online store (meat orders)
Soul Fire Farm, Petersburg, NY
Soul Fire Farm is a small, highly diversified farm that provides weekly doorstep deliveries of in-season, farm fresh, certified naturally-grown food to hundreds of individuals in the Albany inner city living under food apartheid and targeted by state violence. As collaborators in a movement that honors the people whose labor has built the food system in this country, Soul Fire Farm pursued FJC in recognition of the striking significance of a certification that amplifies farmworkers’ voices while supporting their lives and livelihoods. In a food system founded on stolen land and labor that continues to perpetuate structural racism and injustice, Soul Fire Farm values FJC's insistence on fair pricing and fair labor practices that challenge food apartheid and the devaluing of the people who steward the land.
Soul Fire Farm goes beyond the organic standards and the FJC standards by working to dismantle the racist structures that misguide our food system. Through programs such as their Farmers Immersion for Black, Indigenous, Latinx, API and other people of color, sliding scale CSA farm share, and youth food justice leadership training, they are part of a network of farms working to foster land stewardship and leadership by Black and Brown people in the food system, reclaim Afro-Indigenous regenerative farming practices, and catalyze the transfer of resources and power from those with food system privilege to those impacted by food apartheid. In their own team Soul Fire Farm strives to mirror the healing justice they seek in the world by uplifting radical self-care, community accountability, compassionate communication, distributed leadership, fair compensation, and commitment to personal and professional development.
Website / Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube / Online store (food & merchandise)
Subscribe & Follow the AJP
If you’d like to hear about opportunities to support the AJP and our movement collaborators, check out our Events page, follow us on social media, and sign up for our newsletter!
Support the work of the AJP
AJP outreach to farms & businesses
The Agricultural Justice Project relies on the generosity of donors like you in order to accomplish our mission. Your support helps us to:
Provide free consultations to farmers implementing fair labor practices for their workers and developing fair trading relationships with their customers
Provide Food Justice Certification at no cost for BIPOC-led farms and community-scale farms
Build the power of workers and farmers in the food system by holding institutions to the highest standards of fair labor and fair trading
Create and promote free guidance, case studies, templates, and other resources through our AJP Toolkit
Reach more farmers and more workers across the US
Convene farm and food workers, community-scale farmers, and other stakeholders to set rigorous standards for fairness in the food system
We’re grateful for your contribution of any amount. One-time donations help us run all of our programs. Recurring donations provide much-needed long-term support and help us anticipate what resources we’ll have for upcoming programs. Recurring donations can be canceled at any time.
The AJP uses Stripe to securely process online donations and keep your financial information safe.
Donate to the AJP
If you’d prefer to make a donation by mail, please send a check or money order made payable to:
Agricultural Justice Project
PO Box 5786
Gainesville FL 32627
Thank you for your support!
The Agricultural Justice Project is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization (EIN # 35 – 2484219), and your contribution is tax-deductible as allowed by law. Please contact us if you require additional documentation.
Building the Movement
We believe that a strong, united movement is our only hope for getting the food system we deserve and desperately need. We encourage you to support and join up with the grassroots organizing of our partner organizations:
Worker organizations
CATA – The Farmworker Support Committee (NJ, PA, & MD)
Community to Community Development (WA)
Familias Unidas por la Justicia (WA)
Farmworkers Association of Florida
Food Chain Workers Alliance (National)
Not Our Farm (National)
ROC United (National)
National Farmworker Ministry (National)
Lideres Campesinas (CA)
Centro Campesino (MN)
Farm organizations
Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association (OEFFA)
Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA, Northeast US)
Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI-USA)
Other movement partners
Good Food Purchasing Program (National)
Good Food Communities (National)
HEAL Food Alliance (National)
Building the movement in your organization
If you are a member of an organization and inspired by the AJP’s work, please help us connect to your organization and find ways to work together. Even for organizations that we already partner with, we rely on our connections with members to stay in touch and find fresh ways to collaborate. Organizations regularly have changes of leadership, and it can be hard work to re-establish relationships with new leaders, organizers, and staff.
We’d love to connect with your organization around any of our program areas: fair labor and fair business practices, technical assistance, Food Justice Certification, policy advocacy, and values-based institutional procurement.
We also encourage you to always bring a spirit of solidarity and movement-building into your organization’s work. As Dean Spade says in his book Mutual Aid:
“Solidarity across issues and populations is what makes movements big and powerful. Without that connection, we end up with disconnected groups, working in their issue silos, undermining each other, competing for attention and funding, not backing each other up and not building power.”
Solidarity also means prioritizing the needs and demands of the people and communities who have been most marginalized and most harmed: farm and food chain workers, indigenous communities, farmers of color, racially segregated urban communities, poor rural communities, migrants and asylum seekers, and peoples across the Global South. Our food system was built on stolen land and forced labor, and it still generates massive profits for a select few while silencing, dispossessing, and hurting regular people.
How do you relate to solidarity? What is your organization doing to build the power of those who have been most harmed?