Rhode Island Feeds

An industrial-agricultural system that commodifies its outputs must also commodify its inputs — whether these be tractors, fertilizers, pesticides, or labor. Commodification of labor means commodification of laborers; in extreme cases, this is called slavery. In 2007, a federal court found a group of Immokalee employers guilty of enslaving twelve farmworkers. According to the Fort Myers News-Press, these slaveowners “made [their slaves] sleep in box trucks and shacks, charged them for food and showers, didn’t pay them for picking produce and beat them if they tried to leave.”

Since 1997, there have been seven such cases in southern Florida, involving over 1,000 slaves. Immokalee is the Tomato Capital of the US; if you eat ten tomatoes between December and May, nine of them came from this county of 20,000, where 40% of residents live below the poverty line. If you need another reason to eat locally and seasonally, look no further.

This, in short, is why seven Brown students chose to forgo three days of classes, with exams just around the corner, and spend 27 hours on a cramped bus to march 25 miles across the sunbaked streets of southern Florida. Our stress and discomfort are nothing compared to the indignities these workers suffer day in and day out.

We arrived in Tampa around 11 a.m. and met the marchers as they stopped for lunch. We got our Freedom March t-shirts and banners and met students, activists, families, and concerned citizens from every corner of the country — Texas, California, New York, Minnesota, and DC, to name a few. We learned what brought some of our fellow marchers to Florida, and shared our experiences of working for food justice and workers’ rights at Brown. After lunch (and a vigorous application of sunscreen) we joined their ranks, winding through the streets of Tampa, sharing our message with everyone we met. Shopkeepers opened their doors and schoolchildren stopped in their tracks to watch the parade of bright green shirts and colorful signs. While we sang freedom songs and chanted slogans in English and Spanish, they read our flyers intently, then (mostly) cheered us on with honking horns and pumping fists.

Around 6 p.m. we arrived at a Publix supermarket, where we picketed for about an hour before turning in after an exhausting day of marching. Publix is Florida’s largest supermarket chain, and they stubbornly continue to purchase cheap tomatoes from growers who have been found guilty of workers’ rights violations. “This is a labor dispute between a supplier and their employees, and we do not intervene in labor disputes,” says Publix spokeswoman Shannon Patten. Publix is the focus of our three-day march. On Sunday, we will rally outside Publix headquarters in Lakeland, FL to demand justice and dignity for farmworkers.

Taking on America’s 9th-largest private company is a daunting task, but if anyone can do it, it’s the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. In 2001 they began a boycott of Taco Bell that lasted four years before Taco Bell finally signed an agreement to pay fair prices for their tomatoes. Since then, the CIW has signed similar agreements with McDonalds and Burger King. But they can’t do it alone — taking on these huge, powerful corporations requires lots of organization and plenty of popular support. Only under intense consumer pressure will companies change their purchasing policies. As informed and responsible consumers, we must vote not only with our dollars, but with our words, our time, and our feet.

Further Reading:

“Slavery, plain and simple” – Ft. Myers News-Press

Politics of the Plate: The Price of Tomatoes

Farmworkers coalition to target Publix – St. Petersburg Times

Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Taco Bell reach groundbreaking agreement

BEHOLD

The sun shines upon SuFI seedlings in the UEL greenhouse: Pink Beauty, Brandywine, San Marzano, and Washington Cherry tomato varieties

That right there is the beginning of the SuFI Student Garden tomato crop. Seeds were planted in potting soil (see the Kickoff Workday post), and have been soaking up the sun (and water) in the Urban Environmental Lab Greenhouse. Many thanks to the ES department & UEL community garden for kindly sharing space and resources!

Why do tomatoes start in the greenhouse?

The floor to ceiling windows and high sun exposure allow the seeds to get direct sunlight while the soil stays warm, because even though the Main Green is already blossoming with students enjoying spring, the ground is still too cold for seeds to survive. As the photo shows, the tomato seeds have sprouted, and soon we will have to “thin” the plants (pluck out the smaller ones) so they won’t be competing for space and the strongest will survive. As the seedlings get bigger they will be moved to larger containers then transitioned to the outdoor climate (“hardened”) like day trips outside the greenhouse, and finally planted into their beds in the garden.

This post is a bit late, but the Spring Kickoff Garden Workday on March 20th was great! A happy & helpful group came to the garden (on Hope St. and Young Orchard) for some weeding and tidying up, and planting the first seedlings of the season. Check out the photos, and join the SuFI listserv  (e-mail jessica_daniels@brown.edu) to hear about upcoming Garden Workdays!

Taking the insulating plastic off the winter greensPulling up weeds

While weeding we discovered carrots that had been planted in the summer & survived the winter

We harvested spinach that had grown in the winter cold-frames (hoops with plastic over them to insulate the soil)

Planting tomato seedlings! To start, we put moist potting soil into planting containers

Then each lil' cup of soil got 3 seeds

Topped off the cups with a bit more soil, then off to the UEL greenhouse they went!

What to do with all those carrots from the SuFI Marketshare program?

Make carrot cake, of course!

Here’s a really great recipe from Baking Illustrated:

Simple Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes one 13 by 9-inch cake.   Published March 1, 2003.

If you like nuts in your cake, stir 1 1/2 cups toasted chopped pecans or walnuts into the batter along with the carrots. Raisins are also a good addition; 1 cup can be added along with the carrots. If you add both nuts and raisins, the cake will need an additional 10 to 12 minutes in the oven. Below are instructions for using a hand-held or standing mixer.

INGREDIENTS Carrot Cake 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces) 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon table salt 1 pound medium carrots (6 to 7 carrots), peeled 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (10 1/2 ounces) 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (3 1/2 ounces) 4 large eggs 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil , safflower oil, or canola oil Cream Cheese Frosting 8 ounces cream cheese , softened but still cool 5 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, but still cool 1 tablespoon sour cream 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar (4 1/2 ounces) INSTRUCTIONS

1. 1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13 by 9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line bottom of pan with parchment and spray parchment.
2. 2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in large bowl; set aside.
3. 3. In food processor fitted with large shredding disk (see below for mixer method), shred carrots (you should have about 3 cups); transfer carrots to bowl and set aside. Wipe out food processor workbowl and fit with metal blade. Process granulated and brown sugars and eggs until frothy and thoroughly combined, about 20 seconds. With machine running, add oil through feed tube in steady stream. Process until mixture is light in color and well emulsified, about 20 seconds longer. Scrape mixture into medium bowl. Stir in carrots and dry ingredients until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain. Pour into prepared pan and bake until toothpick or skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time. Cool cake to room temperature in pan on wire rack, about 2 hours.
4. 4. For the frosting (See below for mixer method): When cake is cool, process cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla in clean food processor workbowl until combined, about 5 seconds, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add confectioners’ sugar and process until smooth, about 10 seconds.
5. 5. Run paring knife around edge of cake to loosen from pan. Invert cake onto wire rack, peel off parchment, then invert again onto serving platter. Using icing spatula, spread frosting evenly over surface of cake. Cut into squares and serve. (Cover leftovers and refrigerate for up to 3 days.)
6. MIXER METHOD
7. 7. Instead of Step 3 above, follow these directions: Shred carrots using large holes of box grater (you should have about 3 cups); transfer carrots to bowl and set aside. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or in large bowl and using hand-held mixer), beat granulated and brown sugars and eggs on medium-high until thoroughly combined, about 45 seconds. Reduce speed to medium; with mixer running, add oil in slow, steady stream, being careful to pour oil against inside of bowl (if oil begins to splatter, reduce speed to low until oil is incorporated, then resume adding oil). Increase speed to high and mix until mixture is light in color and well emulsified, about 45 seconds to 1 minute longer. Turn off mixer and stir in carrots and dry ingredients by hand until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain. Pour into prepared pan and bake until toothpick or skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time. Cool cake to room temperature in pan on wire rack, about 2 hours.
8. 8. Instead of Step 4 above, follow these directions: When cake is cool, mix cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla at medium high speed in clean bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment ( or in large bowl using handheld mixer) until well combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add confectioners’ sugar and mix until very fluffy, about 1 minute.

(https://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?docid=4677)

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