archive for May 23rd, 2007

Digest: Farm Bill disgruntlement, sustainable labels, Wal-Mart greens its seafood buying

by Ethicurean @ Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007.

NEWSFEATURES & COMMENTARYGet fatty: The Economist takes aim at high fructose corn syrup and dares to suggest it is guiltier than sugar of making us fat. Supporting evidence: The number of Americans with metabolic syndrome — a condition characterized by obesity, insulin resistance and lots of ugly triglyceride fats in the blood — has more than doubled, to 33%, but in Europe, where HFCS can’t compete with cheap cane or beet sugar, only 15% of the adult population has it.

Going into labor: On immigration reform and agriculture

by Bonnie P. @ Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007.

That includes — you guessed it — U.S. farm fields, packing plants, and slaughter facilities, where Congress admits even migrant laborers probably won’t want to work once they gain legal status (and where Colorado has recently proposed to use prison labor to deal with a shortage of migrant workers)…. In 1951, Congress passes a law creating the Bracero guestworker program, which allows producers to “import” Mexican workers legally for seasonal jobs and send them home afterward…. They’re stymied by two factors: first, employers use the threat of job termination to keep workers from even talking to the union, and second, when workers do manage to gain legal status, they typically leave the farm sector for better-paying positions in other industries.

…We can also take important steps in our communities by supporting producers and organizations who are making workers’ rights a top priority for farm businesses (see some inspiring work by the Domestic Fair Trade dialogue, the upper Midwest’s Local Fair Trade Network , and California’s Swanton Berry Farm)…. See Oxfam America’s labor rights campaign and the Agribusiness Accountability Initiative for information on making processing and retail markets more fair, and the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture for some great 2007 Farm Bill proposals that would help address these issues in contract markets (where producers raise crops and livestock under contract for packers and processors).

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