food system workers

photo of a pair of hands picking strawberries on a farm and placing them in stack of crates; each crate is labeled "strawberries"

Lance Cheung/USDA

January 16, 2025

Cruel Trump Deportation Plan Will Hurt Farmers, Food Workers, and All of Us

Karen Perry Stillerman
Deputy Director

photo of two workers in a meatpacking plant wearing hard hats and protective gear, handling slabs of beef on a processing line

Alice Welch/USDA

December 11, 2024

Ten Bills to Create Dignity and Safe Working Conditions for Food and Farm Workers

Guest Commentary

Dairy cattle line up to feed.

David McNew/Getty Images

November 6, 2024

What a Second Trump Administration Means for Food and Farms

Karen Perry Stillerman
Deputy Director

photo of women wearing blue protective gear on either side of the production line in a dimly lit turkey processing plant

Preston Keres/USDA

October 24, 2024

The Historical Exploitation of Agricultural and Food Workers Needs to Stop

DeShawn L. Blanding
Senior Washington Representative

photo of an empty US Senate hearing room, with a row of padded blue chairs on a raised dais facing out toward multiple rows of metal chairs for visitors

WellesEnterprises/Getty Images

October 15, 2024

The Election Is Almost Here—But Where Is the Farm Bill?

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs

May 14, 2024

Ask a Scientist: Stopping Big Ag from Hijacking US Farm and Food Policy

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Anson Eaglin/USDA

May 14, 2024

The Food and Farm Bill Must Right the Wrongs of Longstanding Racial Injustice

DeShawn L. Blanding
Senior Washington Representative

photo of a line of farmworkers picking and bagging heads of lettuce to put in many cardboard boxes on a trailer in the background; the workers are all wearing hats and bandanas as protection from the sun and pesticides

Bob Nichols/USDA

August 24, 2023

The Food and Farm Bill Can Do a Lot for Workers

Omanjana Goswami
Interdisciplinary Scientist

photo of a farmer wearing a bucket hat and driving a tractor toward the camera, with some trees and hazy sky in the background

USDA/Lance Cheung

August 15, 2023

Three Things the 2023 Food and Farm Bill Can—and Should—Do

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs

photo of faceless farmworkers in a strawberry field; some are bent over picking and others are carrying fully loaded crates on their shoulders

Lance Cheung/USDA

July 18, 2023

Poll Shows Strong Support for a Food and Farm Bill that Protects Workers

Karen Perry Stillerman
Deputy Director

Two workers are bent over in a field, picking strawberries in California. It looks like back-breaking labor.

Tim Mossholder/Unsplash

June 15, 2023

We Must Do Right by Farmworkers, Slaughterhouse Workers, and Food Service Employees

Johanna Chao Kreilick
Former President

overhead view of man repairing electrical wires

kellymlacy/Pexels

April 27, 2023

Friday is Workers Memorial Day 2023, a Time for Reflection and a Call to Action

Kathleen Rest
Former Executive Director

photo of cashiers and customers in several checkout lines at a Walmart store

QualityHD/Shutterstock

March 13, 2023

How Big Food Corporations Take Advantage of SNAP

Alice Reznickova
Former Contributor

photo of a sign next to a rural road. It reads "The Next Farm Bill" at the top, and "Town Hall" below, with an arrow pointing away from the road.

Lance Cheung/USDA

February 9, 2023

Six Reasons Why You Should Care about the (So-Called) Farm Bill

Karen Perry Stillerman
Deputy Director

photo of people marching and carrying signs calling for a union outside a Burgerville restaurant

Burgerville Workers Union

February 7, 2022

Could 2022 Be the Year of the Food Worker?

Sarah Reinhardt
Former Contributor

Heart-shaped chicken nuggets on a tray of fast food

February 12, 2021

Tyson Foods Wants to Be Our Valentine. Thanks, But No Thanks.

Karen Perry Stillerman
Deputy Director

February 2, 2021

Questions for a Once-and-Future Agriculture Secretary

Karen Perry Stillerman
Deputy Director

Photo: vodograj/shutterstock

January 15, 2021

Long Overdue COVID Worker Protections Would Still Save Hundreds of Lives

Sarah Reinhardt
Former Contributor

December 21, 2020

4 Ways Tyson Foods Made 2020 Worse

Karen Perry Stillerman
Deputy Director

Jabbi/Wikimedia

September 11, 2020

The Most Dangerous Job in Fishing Isn’t Fishing—It’s Processing Fish During a Global Pandemic

UCS Science Network

Southern Foodways Alliance/Flickr

August 4, 2020

Pollution, Hurricanes, and the Pandemic Spell Trouble for Gulf Shrimp and Seafood Industries

Rebecca Boehm
Former Contributor

May 20, 2020

With Trump Executive Order, Are Meat and Poultry Plants a COVID-19 Ticking Time Bomb?

Rebecca Boehm
Former Contributor

U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Keeler

May 14, 2020

Put Workers First in COVID Response

Jeremy Richardson
Former Contributor

Jim Horn/Flickr

April 22, 2020

As COVID-19 Reveals Our Food System’s Flaws, Congress Can Boost Protection Now—and Resilience for the Future

Karen Perry Stillerman
Deputy Director