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IN RECENT WEEKS ...
we've been talking about how real change gets made, within our own organization and on a broader scale.
If you're new here, or you haven't already noticed, we do not accept the status quo. In 2022 we intend to continue - as we have for the past two years - adapting our daily work at GFJ to address systemic racism and the culture of Whiteness that pervades our lives.
In the process, we'll also continue to wonder: what we can really do about it all? Systemic issues run so deep that we spend just as many days doubting our own impact as we do feeling hopeful that our personal and professional choices make a difference.
We take this as a reminder that a fight for equity and social justice is not a straight line. And we lean on one another - our small team of women - to keep each other curious about the questions, and willing to work past the dead ends.
On January 1, we continued to hone the definition of a Good Food Job as one that pays at least $15 per hour, before tips, non-monetary compensation, and other benefits. We've recently written about a big challenge with this change: supporting decent wages for workers seems to conflict with supporting small farms. As we near the end of February, we're finally coming to understand that part of the reason this feels like such a painful dichotomy is because it is a false one.
A false dichotomy is one based on the premise that a limited number of options are available, leaving you with an either/or situation that oversimplifies a complex problem. For example, if we are for higher wages for farm workers, we must be against small farms. Similarly, if we are for higher wages, we must be against acknowledging the value of other forms of compensation.
For well over ten years, we supported small farms in ways that upheld inequities in the agricultural industry, which means that they were ultimately detrimental to many farm workers. We published unpaid internships, or jobs that paid low or no wages but provided non-monetary compensation like room and board and fresh food. In all that time, we rarely heard from farm workers who were frustrated or outraged that these jobs existed. Yet when we finally did ask, and listen closely, to the thoughts of farm workers and other low-wage employees, and then used our power as a small, flexible business to change our corner of the job board industry, we began to receive multiple complaints a week from farm owners and managers about how our policy fails to support small farms.
The truth is, our country and its White power structure failed small farms. And there is a lot of work to do to get out of this mess. Though there are many experts with more knowledge and well-informed ideas than us - and we intend to listen and follow them - we also know that we have some power. It's our duty to exercise it through change that makes us uncomfortable, at times, but also feels centered on our values.
Continuing to uphold the status quo will not do anyone - even farmers - any favors in the long term. Sustainable farms cannot, by definition, be sustainable without providing a living wage to those whose labor fuels the operation (including many farm owners, themselves).
As Monique Melton recently pointed out in an online course we are taking with her (there is a bounty of resources available at all price points - including a free podcast - on her website) having the awareness and information is essential, but if you don't have a pathway forward to change, you will become overwhelmed and stay in your comfort.
With that in mind, we'll leave you with the energetic goodness of how change is leading to progress at GFJ:
- When you look at our 1,000+ active job listings, you can be certain that every single one of them pays $15/hr or more
- More than half of those jobs relate to farming in one way or another
- Each week we reach out to dozens of job posters to encourage and require more equitable job posts and we can see the culture shifting, bit by bit
- We took a financial risk in turning down jobs that pay less than $15/hr, yet our revenues continue to climb - stay tuned for conversations in future newsletters about how we are reinvesting in Black and Indigenous power
- Our newsletter archive has a new search function, and the best part is that you can filter by 'guest writers' and see the beautiful array of words inspired by the #sharethemicnow campaign
- A handful of new GFJ Stories are in production and we can't wait to share them with you
Yours in food justice,
Tay + Dor
photo by Christine Han
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