The AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (“AJP standards”) outline what fair working and trading conditions look like in practical terms. The AJP standards were written by farmworkers, community-scale farmers, and other advocates for food justice, and these same stakeholders oversee our Food Justice Certification program, which verifies that business entities meet the standards. The rest of this toolkit—and the AJP’s technical assistance program in general—is designed to help you implement the practices and policies prescribed by our standards.
The full standards are available in this toolkit section (see below) and also as a PDF in English or Español.
Pages in this section
- Summaries & Resources
- Quick introductions to the AJP standards and other resources not officially a part of the AJP standards document. Start here if you're wondering what the AJP standards are all about.
- Front Matter
- Contributors, stakeholders, and table of contents.
- Executive Summary
- The Agricultural Justice Project bases these standards for fair trade and social justice in the food system on the Declaration of Human Rights, the conventions of the International Labor Organization and the experience of farmers, farmworkers, and other participants in the current food system in the United States and Canada.
- Definitions
- This glossary is part of the AJP Social Stewardship Standards, 2019 edition.
- Background
- Principles and values, and the kinds of farms AJP supports.
- Applying the Standards
- Details on implementing listed practices for entities seeking certification.
- 1.0 Food Business Responsibilities
- Complete text of Section 1 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), the standards covering food business responsibilities to farmers.
- 2.0 Farmer Responsibilities to Buyers
- Complete text of Section 2 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), the standards covering farmer responsibilities to buyers.
- 3.0 Farm Employer Responsibilities
- Complete text of Section 3 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), the standards covering farm responsibilities to employees and interns.
- 4.0 Food Business Employer Responsibilities
- Complete text of Section 4 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), the standards covering food business responsibilities to employees and interns.
- 5.0 Grower Groups
- Complete text of Section 5 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), the standards covering grower groups.
- 6.0 Business to Business Responsibilities
- Complete text of Section 6 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), the standards covering responsibilities of food businesses to other food businesses.
- 7.0 Non-Profits and Non-Profit Cooperatives
- Complete text of Section 7 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), the standards covering nonprofits.
- DRAFT Labor Contractor Responsibilities
- Complete text of Section 8 of the AJP’s Social Stewardship Standards (2019v4), a draft of potential standards covering labor contractors.
- 2019 Revisions
- Documentation of updates to the standards from the 2012 to the 2019 versions, including public comments and response.