What does it mean to be a Fair Food Program Participating Grower?īeing part of a third-party audit program like the Fair Food Program adds another element of accountability to a farmer’s commitment to social responsibility and sustainability. Farm work is hard and harvest days are long, so when you have great workers, you have a successful team working for the same mission and outcome,” said Watkins.
I want to make sure all my workers are protected and rewarded at the end of the day. It builds confidence and empowers them to speak up and seek help when needed. “Having workers that feel valued and respected gives them passion and a love for what they do. But, you can rest assured that Watkins takes care of his farm workers from sunup to sun down. When it’s time to harvest sweet potatoes, hours are long for about two to three months, as you have to pick the sweet potatoes by hand once the fields have been plowed. Like most farmers who own and operate small to midsize farms, Watkins is always the first body on the farm and the last to leave. It also speaks to his commitment to innovation,” said Kronick. The fact that Randall Watkins was the first farmer to say yes to the Fair Food Program speaks to Randall’s commitment to the values that he has as a farmer and as an owner of Happy Dirt. “I had no doubt that most of, if not all of, our farmers would qualify for it. After all, he is the first body on the farm and the last to leave. Spend thirty minutes with Watkins on his farm talking about how he balances life and work, and you would understand why he was the first to join. Being in his mid-thirties, Watkins is one of the youngest farmers in North Carolina and was the first of our farm partners to jump at the opportunity to become one of the Fair Food Program’s Participating Farmers. Watkins began growing 10 acres of organic sweet potatoes in 2013 as a way to diversify his crop and now grows 100 acres of Covington and Garnet sweet potatoes. Randall Watkins is a third-generation farmer and co-owner of Watkins Farm in Oxford, NC. There is always room to grow and improve, and third-party audit programs like the Fair Food Program help us to continue to look for ways to build upon our sustainability impact and promise.” “When it comes to social, environmental, and economic sustainability, there’s not a finish line that you just cross.
“At Happy Dirt we are very privileged to be able to partner day in and day out with top notch customers and farmers who not only care about the quality of the product, but who also care about the success and wellness of the people behind those products,” said Kronick. So when Whole Foods Market approached us, asking if our farmers would be interested in joining the initiative, our CEO Sandi Kronick didn’t hesitate. It received the Presidential Medal in 2015 for its “extraordinary efforts” in combating forced labor in agriculture and has been praised by human rights observers from the White House to the United Nations. The Coalition of Imm okalle Workers’ Fair Food Program is an award-winning human rights initiative that pioneered the innovative, Worker-driven Social Responsibility model to monitor and enforce workplace protections on U.S. As we enter the holiday season that’s set aside to observe our gratitude and to eat a copious amount of sweet potatoes and leafy greens, we are honored and grateful to share that one of Happy Dirt’s farmer-owners, Randall Watkins, has become the first and only sweet potato farmer in North Carolina to join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program.
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