Socially Responsible Fresh Produce Companies

Are Full of Inspiring Human Stories

Find Yours to Share During Farmworker Awareness Week

People are at the heart of the fresh produce industry. Farmworker Awareness Week presents an opportunity to share authentic stories that help customers understand the immense value farmworkers bring to the fresh produce industry through their specialized skill and knowledge.

Sharing authentic stories to highlight the farmworkers in your supply chain can be done formally or informally, with photos, videos or the written word.

Here are a few ideas to get started mining stories from your staff for this year's Farmworker Awareness Week:

• Capture the story behind an employee-suggested improvement to a process, a piece of equipment or a facility.
• Interview the employee who has been with your company for the longest time about what has changed in agriculture and what they've learned along the way. Share quotations and photos.
• Highlight employees representing the different job positions in your company and the most important daily tasks they perform.
• Ask several employees the same question, and string their answers together in a blog or video. For instance, "What do you wish grocery store shoppers knew about your work?" or "How does it feel to know you're contributing to putting fresh food on consumers' tables?"

Check out our Communications Toolkit for customizable graphic templates and key messages to share during Farmworker Awareness Week.

The Equitable Food Initiative (EFI) marketing team is also available to help EFI-certified growers craft content specific to their organization. Reach out to media@equitablefood.org for more information.

Revamped Certification Program Offers Growers Customizable Audit

EFI launched a new audit approach to its certification program in February 2024.

The changes to the program allow grower-shippers to choose whether to include Global Food Safety Initiative recognized food safety and integrated pest management standards in the EFI certification audit, eliminating redundancies.

Peter O'Driscoll, Executive Director for EFI, commented, "As buyers and consumers demand greater supply chain transparency, EFI has responded with a range of offerings that meet growers where they are and invite them on a continuous improvement journey. EFI is more committed than ever to helping employers engage their workforce in strategies that both provide customer assurance and enhance business performance."

Get more details in the news coverage from And Now U Know.

Online Webinars, Seminars and Workshops Now Available Through EFI to Build and Enhance Skills for Farms

EFI is now offering a range of learning and training opportunities for individuals and farming operations to better understand and apply key social responsibility concepts.

The webinars, seminars and courses are designed to align to the Ethical Charter on Responsible Labor Practices and provide introductory knowledge and skills to pursue EFI certification. Seminars are offered as introductions to topics, and workshops and courses dive deeper to build applicable knowledge and skills for managers, supervisors and workers.

Spring courses begin in March. See a complete list of upcoming courses.

Upcoming Course Equips Companies to Coordinate and Communicate Sustainability Efforts

Communicating sustainability efforts to buyers and consumers is increasingly important for the fresh produce industry, and grower-shippers are often challenged to create and manage the internal systems to track and report on their efforts.

Included in the first offerings for EFI's new online trainings is a course designed to teach the necessary foundational knowledge and tools to coordinate, measure and communicate sustainability efforts effectively.

This intensive, customized course draws from EFI's recent pilot program Produce & Reduce as well as a recent needs assessment. It includes individual consultation sessions with participating companies and will help teams of key employees design a sustainability roadmap based on industry trends and organizational priorities.

Join one of the two upcoming sessions of the course.

Equitable Food Initiative partners with growers and retailers to create a more transparent food chain, safer food and healthier places to work.