24 min
Farm Workers Awareness Week And The Invisible Workers Sustaining Our Food Supply With LeAnne Ruzzamenti, Director Of Marketing And Communication For the Equitable Food Initiative, And Nicole Minnich-Zapata, Marketing Director For Misionero The Produce Moms Podcast
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- Health & Fitness
“I really want the consumer to understand the true cost of producing a product. I think with more education they’ll know what they’re investing in and will be willing to pay more for a quality product they know has a positive impact in the world.”
LeAnne Ruzzamenti (14:09-14:26)
The annual Farm Worker Awareness Week, which falls along Caesar Chavez’s birthday and along the same time when fresh fruit and vegetable production moves back to the U.S., is an important week to honor the daily contributions that farm workers make to our food system. We truly wouldn’t have access to the quality supply of products we enjoy without our farm workers who are invisible to us as consumers.
LeAnne Ruzzamenti, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Equitable Food Initiative, was raised on a family-owned apple farm in the Hudson Valley and has been in agriculture her whole life. Joining the Equitable Food Initiative in 2016 was an opportunity for her to share her passion for sharing stories that highlight the people behind our food. The EFI is a certification organization focused on workforce development and engaging with farm workers directly to create healthier workplaces and safer foods.
For example, the EFI works with growers like Misionero (the company behind Earth Greens, Garden Life and Green Wave Farms) to help train workers and create communication and collaboration that works across the entire team, and they also work with retailers so they can understand different levels of social responsibility. It’s the small, unnoticed tasks that happen every day the EFI is shining a light on for the agricultural industry and consumers.
“We know what it takes to get fresh and healthy food on our table, but most consumers probably don’t think too deeply into the supply chain. It’s really important to show our appreciation for these men and women who are the backbone of our food system and also to call on the agricultural industry as a whole to better educate consumers about where their food comes from and all the hands that are responsible for it.” LeAnne Ruzzamenti (9:51-10:17)
Nicole Minnich-Zapata works as the Marketing Director for Misionero, the company that brings you your favorite organic and conventional salads and salad kits, lettuces, bagged vegetables under brands like Earth Greens, Garden Life and Green Wave Farms. Nicole attests to what a huge part EFI plays in all areas of the business. For example, one of the concerns Misionero was hearing from employees was that the parking lot was too dark at night when they left from their second shift. This led the company to putting in new lighting in the parking lot, and making other changes like adding more paid time off and new bathrooms.
“I think Farm Workers Awareness Week should be spent dedicating and honoring the hard-working people that support getting food from the farm to the table, which is essential especially in the hard times we’ve gone through recently.” Nicole Minnich-Zapata (12:17-12:28)
Misionero has been EFI certified for over three years and just recently has started a new pilot program called The Producing Reduce Program, a zero waste initiative that launched six months ago, and a Work Process Skills pilot program which focuses on the upskilling of employees, reviewing all operation processes and adding input for areas of improvement – specifically around professionalizing agriculture workers and identifying areas of leadership opportunities for new and current employees.
“As we think about sustainability, how we treat our people and take care of that human capital is a huge part of a sustainable movement in a sustainable agriculture system.” Lori Taylor (18:20-18:31)
You can support the Equitable Food Initiative as a consumer by looking for third party certification labels on the goods you buy like fruits, vegetables, seafood, coffee and tea. When you do your part by buy
“I really want the consumer to understand the true cost of producing a product. I think with more education they’ll know what they’re investing in and will be willing to pay more for a quality product they know has a positive impact in the world.”
LeAnne Ruzzamenti (14:09-14:26)
The annual Farm Worker Awareness Week, which falls along Caesar Chavez’s birthday and along the same time when fresh fruit and vegetable production moves back to the U.S., is an important week to honor the daily contributions that farm workers make to our food system. We truly wouldn’t have access to the quality supply of products we enjoy without our farm workers who are invisible to us as consumers.
LeAnne Ruzzamenti, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Equitable Food Initiative, was raised on a family-owned apple farm in the Hudson Valley and has been in agriculture her whole life. Joining the Equitable Food Initiative in 2016 was an opportunity for her to share her passion for sharing stories that highlight the people behind our food. The EFI is a certification organization focused on workforce development and engaging with farm workers directly to create healthier workplaces and safer foods.
For example, the EFI works with growers like Misionero (the company behind Earth Greens, Garden Life and Green Wave Farms) to help train workers and create communication and collaboration that works across the entire team, and they also work with retailers so they can understand different levels of social responsibility. It’s the small, unnoticed tasks that happen every day the EFI is shining a light on for the agricultural industry and consumers.
“We know what it takes to get fresh and healthy food on our table, but most consumers probably don’t think too deeply into the supply chain. It’s really important to show our appreciation for these men and women who are the backbone of our food system and also to call on the agricultural industry as a whole to better educate consumers about where their food comes from and all the hands that are responsible for it.” LeAnne Ruzzamenti (9:51-10:17)
Nicole Minnich-Zapata works as the Marketing Director for Misionero, the company that brings you your favorite organic and conventional salads and salad kits, lettuces, bagged vegetables under brands like Earth Greens, Garden Life and Green Wave Farms. Nicole attests to what a huge part EFI plays in all areas of the business. For example, one of the concerns Misionero was hearing from employees was that the parking lot was too dark at night when they left from their second shift. This led the company to putting in new lighting in the parking lot, and making other changes like adding more paid time off and new bathrooms.
“I think Farm Workers Awareness Week should be spent dedicating and honoring the hard-working people that support getting food from the farm to the table, which is essential especially in the hard times we’ve gone through recently.” Nicole Minnich-Zapata (12:17-12:28)
Misionero has been EFI certified for over three years and just recently has started a new pilot program called The Producing Reduce Program, a zero waste initiative that launched six months ago, and a Work Process Skills pilot program which focuses on the upskilling of employees, reviewing all operation processes and adding input for areas of improvement – specifically around professionalizing agriculture workers and identifying areas of leadership opportunities for new and current employees.
“As we think about sustainability, how we treat our people and take care of that human capital is a huge part of a sustainable movement in a sustainable agriculture system.” Lori Taylor (18:20-18:31)
You can support the Equitable Food Initiative as a consumer by looking for third party certification labels on the goods you buy like fruits, vegetables, seafood, coffee and tea. When you do your part by buy
24 min