Fairness for workers and rural communities

Protect human rights and quality of life for food system workers and fenceline communities

Workers in the food industry—the largest employment sector in the US— are essential at every stage of producing, processing, transporting, selling, and preparing the food we eat. This labor is often unseen and undervalued, despite being strenuous and at times dangerous. Jobs in farming, fishing, and forestry have the highest fatality rate of all occupational groups, according to 2022 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the same time, occupational regulations often exempt agriculture, fisheries, and aquaculture in many important ways and leave food industry workers with minimal protections. Not only are workers endangered by the industrial food system, but entire communities near large-scale operations bear the costs of environmental degradation and adverse health effects. These operations, disproportionately sited in low-income communities and communities whose residents have been systematically disadvantaged due to their race, concentrate large numbers of animals and their manure in small geographic areas. Scientific evidence and attention to their experiences can help remedy the exploitation and injustices experienced by workers and communities.
Furthering complicating the injustices, high levels of market concentration across the food industry are particularly evident in the meat and poultry sectors; the top four beef processing firms in the United States control 85% of the market. This concentration of power creates vulnerabilities to supply chain disruptions and power imbalances that harm farmers, communities, consumers, and workers in a variety of ways.

Examples of our work in this area:

Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future

Fairness for workers and rural communities

Protect human rights and quality of life for food system workers and fenceline communities