Campaign research

Welcome to SFA's research clearinghouse. Although some of the information below pertains to past campaigns, much of it is still relevant as we take on new targets in the Campaign for Fair Food. Contact us with questions and suggestions.

• Agricultural industry & general research
• Supermarket Campaign: Background
• Food service provider industry
• Chipotle
• Burger King
• McDonald's
• Taco Bell

Agricultural industry & general research

• "Facts and Figures on Farmworker Poverty" - An overview of the abject poverty, and description of a typical day, endured by those whose work puts the food on restaurant tables and supermarket shelves. (Farmworker Facts and Figures from the mid- to late-1990's - of note is how much things have changed — or not.)

• "Immokalee 101" - photos and more from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

• "Farm Labor in the U.S." - from Just Harvest USA.

• "SFA Farmworker Movement Bibliography" - A selected list of books, articles, theses and other resources about the CIW, SFA, farmworker history and related topics.

• "Big fast-food contracts breaking tomato repackers" - An insightful, insider's look from The Packer, the agricultural industry journal, on how the purchasing practices of large food chains squeeze farmworker wages.

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• Oxfam report: "Like Machines in the Fields" - In the US nearly two million farmworkers earn sub-living wages and work in dehumanizing conditions. The supply chain model of global economics has tightened profit margins: value is passed up the chain, while workers at the bottom pay the price.
  
  
• Recent Structural Changes in the Agricultural Industry and their Effects - A very useful fact sheet on the corporate consolidation of agriculture and its effects on farmworkers compiled by the RFK Center for Human Rights
  
  
• Modern-day Slavery in U.S. Agriculture: Legal Failure and Corporate Complicity - Another useful fact sheet on modern-day slavery in the agricultural industry compiled by National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
  
  
• National Agricultural Workers Survey - The U.S. Dept. of Labor survey of the demographic and employment characteristics of farm labor.
  
  
• Agribusiness Accountability Initiative - A growing international network of academics, activists and food system experts who recognize that corporate concentration and vertical integration among transnational agri-food companies threaten the sustainability of the global food system.

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Food service provider industry

• SFA's Dine With Dignity Campaign Background

• "A More-Complete Definition of 'Sustainable'" (Organic on the Green)

• What is "Real Food," and what does that have to do with campus dining? - Check out this video.
• Web Resources from the Real Food Challenge - Info on campus food, student activism, and more.

• Data and Resources from the Stir it Up Campaign - food service contracts from several universities and more!
• University of Central Florida: The Fight for Responsible Contracting (Stir it Up Campaign)

• Sodexo Action Toolkit (SEIU)
• "Sodexo and hidden kickbacks in the food service industry" (In These Times)

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Chipotle

• CIW letter to Chipotle - CIW asks Chipotle in Feb. 2006 to expand its "Food with Integrity" mantra to include the wages and working conditions of farmworkers in its tomato supply chain.
  
  
• Let the debate begin - Read Chipotle's arguments in defense of the conditions in its tomato supply chain and the CIW's answers.
  
  
• Food With Integrity - Chipotle's self-described "manifesto" on its mission to “revolutionize the way America grows and gathers its food” by “working back along the food chain.”
  
  
• Chipotle restaurant locator (click "find")

• Organics: Meaningful or Market Niche? (LiP Magazine, 5/06) - "There are often no major differences in living conditions or labor practices between organic and conventional farm operations in the US."

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Burger King - more information coming soon!

• "The Secret Behind the Creepy King"

• "Burger King of Cool?"

• Burger King Wikipedia entry
  

• Investor Relations - inside info from the horse's mouth

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McDonald's

• Point-by-point comparison - The Taco Bell/Yum agreement vs. McDonald's SAFE initiative
  
  
• What we have learned - Unraveling the tangled web between McDonald's, SAFE, a public relations firm that specializes in "activist response management" and the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association
  
  
• On foxes, henhouses, and social responsibility in the fast-food industry - The close ties between the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association – McDonald's partner in SAFE – and a farm where workers were held in a "form of servitude" by their crewleader, who was later convicted in federal court.
  
  
• Ag-Mart, McDonald's and sweatshops in the fields - Explores the connection between McD's, an unruly Florida grower, and the pesticide contamination facing farmworkers.
  

• Critical analysis of "Economic Impact: Tomatoes in Florida, Report 1" - the McD's-commisioned "study" on farmworker wages and working conditions
  
  
• National student organizations respond to McDonald's "study" on farmworker poverty.
  
  
• Scholars statement on rights of farmworkers producing for McDonald's - Robert B. Reich, Former Secretary of Labor, et al.
  
  
• Alliance for Fair Food critique of McDonald's study

Taco Bell

• Victory at Taco Bell - Details on the boycott-ending agreement with Yum Brands

• Frequently Asked Questions on the Taco Bell boycott

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