Shared as part of the Agricultural Justice Project's AJP Toolkit at agriculturaljusticeproject.org/toolkit. Free to use, share, and adapt as long as you give credit to the original authors. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Original authors of resources shared here retain all original rights to their work.
The Agricultural Justice Project brings together workers, farmers, and their communities to build a food system that’s fair and just. See our website for more information on all of our programs.
Our AJP toolkit collects guidance and resources to help you build a business and workplace that’s fair and accountable to workers, small-scale farmers, and communities.
For the authors, as for many organic farmers around the world and the hundreds of organizations which have signed on to the IFOAM principles, social justice and social rights are integral aspects of organic agriculture, processing, distribution, and retailing.
These principles of social justice are essential:
To allow everyone involved in organic and sustainable production and processing a quality of life that meets their basic needs and allows an adequate return and satisfaction from their work, including a safe working environment.
...When disputes arise between an employee and an owner or other figure of authority, power disparities may make it hard to follow an internal conflict resolution process. AJP provides an additional venue for hearing grievances for businesses that are Food Justice Certified.
Standards are outlined for both labor and trade practices of the operation including: working conditions, pay and benefits, participation and training for workers and interns, negotiations, pricing, and contracting between buyers and sellers. All entities are welcomed to apply. Please see the AJP Policy Manual for our requirements regarding partial chain labeling and multi-ingredient products.
AJP standards can be applied to a continuum of operations, however specific standards compliance for health/safety and toxic exposure requirements regarding farmers, workers, children and interns will be different depending on the type of operation and the materials used. In general, AJP standards are designed to ensure a movement away from use of chemical industrial agriculture toward more bio-intensive, organic and regenerative agriculture.
...AJP standards require a business to have a written, multi-stage disciplinary process.
Complete text of Section 1 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), the standards covering food business responsibilities to farmers.
Complete text of Section 2 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), the standards covering farmer responsibilities to buyers.
Complete text of Section 3 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), the standards covering farm responsibilities to employees and interns.
Complete text of Section 4 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), the standards covering food business responsibilities to employees and interns.
Complete text of Section 5 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), the standards covering grower groups.
Complete text of Section 6 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), the standards covering responsibilities of food businesses to other food businesses.