The sequel to an Oscar-nominated documentary that scrutinized corporate farming in America is bringing international attention to a Florida-based farmworkers' rights organization — and their battle against an infamous Palm Beach-based fast food boss.
Food, Inc. 2, which premiered last week in West Palm Beach, features farming experts and lawmakers probing the nation's "efficient yet vulnerable food system,” according to the film’s synopsis.
Filmmakers Melissa Robledo and Robert Kenner argue that profit-driven corporations have robbed workers of a "fair living wage" and proliferated, through the use of ultra-processed foods, what it calls an "international health crisis.”
The first film, released 16 years ago, helped spark a national conversation about the effects of America's industrialized food system.
But the sequel suggests much work remains to be done — something that hits close to home for workers' rights activists in Florida. In fact, the film highlights the work of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a worker-focused human rights organization that is rooted in the state.
READ MORE:Farmworkers marched through Palm Beach, urging Wendy's chairman to end 'modern-day slavery' on farms
The group are behind the Fair Food Program, which started with tomato growers in Florida and has since expanded to a dozen states and several countries. The initiative seeks to ensure workers are afforded on-the-job protections against wage theft, extreme heat and sexual harassment.
CIW senior staff member Gerardo Reyes Chavez, who is featured in the film, says the documentary places a spotlight on the ongoing effort to increase projections for farmworkers.
“It connects you to the people behind your food,” Chavez told WLRN. “Without workers, there would not be food on the table for any of us.”
"It's time to be able to recognize the humanity of those who makes our lives possible and comfortable."Gerardo Reyez Chavez, of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers
The documentary demands “more corporations to be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem" and to stop “perpetuating the conditions that for too long have impacted workers in such negative ways,” Chavez said.
"[In the film] we get to share a little bit about what prompted us, what kind of conditions that needed changing and how we did it through legally binding agreements that we reached with now 14 different corporations, including Taco Bell, McDonald's, Burger King, and even Walmart — which led to the implementation of the Fair Food Program in the tomato industry in the state of Florida," he added.
But one high profile holdout to the program is Wendy's, which investigative author Michael Pollan in the film describes as one of "a handful of very powerful companies" that dominate the U.S. food industry. The film calls out Wendy’s board chairman Nelson Peltz, a Palm Beach resident who was recently involved in a high profile boardroom battle at Disney, for refusing to join the Fair Food Program.
The program encourages corporate buyers to pay an extra “penny per pound” of tomatoes. Growers use that premium to increase pay, provide extra water and shade and a 24-hour hotline for reports of abuse. The Fair Food Program also includes mandatory farm audits.
In 2022, CIW and other nonprofits organized between 400-500 people — supporters, artists and faith communities — in a march through the Town of Palm Beach. They called on Peltz to follow the lead of nationwide companies such as McDonald’s, Whole Foods and Walmart.
In a statement to WLRN, Wendy's said its company “does not participate in the Fair Food Program because there is no nexus between the program and our supply chain.” The chain also claimed that their code of conduct and social audits are an efficient way to prevent labor abuse.
But some of the pressure from organizers who led the march worked. Following years of student protests, and a month after the march through Palm Beach island, Wendy’s departed Florida Atlantic University's campus.
Recognizing the humanity of workers
Chavez hopes the new film will re-engage the public in an important conversation.
"We all, as consumers, might take for granted the fact that it is really easy to go to the grocery store, pick our fruits and vegetables there, and not give a second thought to the people who do the job on the fields to make sure that those products are available to us," he told WLRN.
"It's time to be able to recognize the humanity of those who makes our lives possible and comfortable," he added. "Not from a place of pity because they're suffering on the fields, but from a place of solidarity, recognizing the importance of the humanity of workers that are the backbone of so many different companies, so many different industries within the food system,"
The film comes a week after nonprofit Yield Giving, founded by billionaire philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott, announced a $2 million grant to help CIW and the Fair Food Standards Council expand the Fair Food Program and improve working conditions and wages. The donation was part of a hundreds of millions of dollars Scott pledged to nearly 400 nonprofits.
Food, Inc. 2 can now be seen in theaters and on Amazon Prime. Watch the official documentary trailer here.
