Food justice aims to ensure that the benefits and risks of producing, distributing, and consuming food are shared fairly by everyone involved and to transform the food system to eliminate inequities (WC Perspectives). From farmworkers to the home dinner table and to the corporations that sell packaged goods or fast food are all part of the food system. The food justice movement is an effort to help people who live in food deserts, protect the rights of farmworkers, and fight to stop corporate farming practices that endanger the ecosystem. .
Farm workers in the United States perform laborious tasks and are exposed to a wide variety of occupational risks and hazards. These workers lack access to social services, healthcare and have little protection from labor laws, even though they are a critical component to providing healthy food. There is roughly around 2.5 million seasonal and migrant farmworkers in the United States ("The National Agricultural Workers Survey."). Agriculture is one of the most hazardous industries in the U.S, "In 2000, there were 780 deaths and 130,000 disabling injuries in agriculture" (Hanson, Donohoe 3). The injury and death rate is due to many health problems and working hazards which are caused by working conditions. Workers face health problems such as cancer, dermatitis neurological diseases which, all can be related to the exposure of pesticides. Impaired access to health care is also a factor that leads to farm workers having bad health (Hanson, Donohoe 5). In the United States, migrant and seasonal farm workers' poor health is caused from occupational hazards, exposure to pesticides, and impaired access to health care. .
Farm labor is year round and workers labor in intense weather conditions, including heat, cold, rain and bright sun. The work they do often requires them to carry heavy loads, work with heavy machinery, and deal with dangerous chemicals.
