06.25.07
Harvest for Humanity
I was watching PBS this weekend, since regular television is just golf tournaments and big gas-wasting car races. They had a program on called America’s Heartland. Despite the fact that it turns out to be sponsored by that monster of GMO seed lawsuits, Monsanto, it was a really interesting program about small farms throughout the US.
One of the particularly uplifting stories was about Harvest for Humanity, an organization started by a couple now living in Immokalee, Florida that believe that agricultural workers should be paid a living wage. They have a blueberry, peach, plum and orange farm, pay a living wage about $3/hour higher than nearby farms, and offer ownership to their workers through a stock purchase plan. They also offer low-interest loans to their workers to buy homes in their Jubilation subdivision, giving families an opportunity at home ownership. They don’t have much information on their website about how to buy their products, though they say that they are sold through local speciality grocers under the Harvest Blueberries label.