Sustainability: Food Justice

The growing “food justice movement” tries to tackle inequities by bringing attention to broad goals related to labor, fairness, and access. The promises embedded in ideas such as fair wages, food justice, supporting small farmers, and animal welfare are intuitively appealing, but how can these concepts be captured in a meaningful way? And how can a consumer be sure they are actually buying a product with these characteristics?

Typically, food labels are used to convey information about a product. However, there is no single food label that embodies social justice. Organic certification verifies that food was grown under an ecological farming system, yet there is significant opposition to mass market organic, which stems in part from a frustration that the broader goals of the food movement are not embodied in the organic standard. Additionally, there is active resistance to what some view as cooption of the process by big agribusiness, and the costly and burdensome administrative requirements that disadvantage small farmers. The fair trade label certifies that farmers receive a fair price for their products, but does not speak to the ecological impact of the farming system. Even seemingly simple metrics such as the number of miles from the farm to your table can be misleading, since there is no guarantee that locally produced food translates to a lower carbon footprint in every case. Further complicating the purchasing process is that many labels are unenforceable, so a consumer is relying on the good faith of all the businesses along the supply chain.