Eating Matters
Living Wages for Farmers
This week features the second in a two part series on food and labor, focusing on living wage issues faced by farmers throughout the country. What are working conditions like for those who actually grow and harvest the food you eat every day? And what can be done to improve those conditions, encouraging the next generation of farmers to pick up the reins. Host Jenna Liut is joined by GrowNYC's Greenmarket Director, Michael Hurwitz and the National Young Farmers Coalition Executive Director, Lindsey Shute to discuss their experiences advocating for and supporting farmers. Later in the show, Jenna speaks with Eileen Gordon Chiarello about Barnraiser, our featured startup of the week. Barnraiser is a discovery and crowdsourcing platform for projects promoting health and sustainability in the food system.
"I think once you factor in the number of hours that a farmer is working, they may be netting a certain number...but when you break it down to an hourly wage, I think the overwhelming majority are not earning a living wage, unfortunately." [15:10] – Michael Hurwitz