IMMOKALEE, FL - Food Chains, a newly released documentary produced by actress Eva Longoria and “Fast Food Nation” author Eric Schlosser, seeks to expose what it calls the “human cost in our food supply and the complicity of large buyers of produce.”

Food Chains targets Florida’s tomato-growing industry and calls attention to situations that misrepresent labor conditions throughout the state. As Lipman CEO Kent Shoemaker puts it, the claims made by the documentary are “inaccurate” and threatens to “reverse positive momentum” during a time when the industry continues to make a concentrated effort to better the lives of workers on the field.

He writes:

“As CEO of the nation’s largest open-field tomato grower – Immokalee, Fla.-based Lipman – allow me to state the facts:

• There has not been a single reported case of a Florida tomato farmer beating or raping a farm worker.
• Stating that people earn “$40 a day for 4,000 pounds” of harvest is incorrect. Our workers are paid at least minimum wage, with a vast majority making far more than that. Last year alone, we awarded over $1,000,000 in season-end bonuses to those who harvest our crop. We pay $.55/bucket, plus a $.10/bucket bonus. That is more than $.02/pound which is more than double of what Ms. Longoria continues to state. Our average farmworker made $12.83/hour last year and that is before factoring free housing and transportation.
• When it comes to farmworkers’ rights, Publix Super Markets is not the problem. Publix is a values-based company that I believe has been forced into a defensive stance because of the offensive statements and actions being directed at them.

Working together will get so much more done.”

The documentary argues that the Fair Food Program, developed by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), is key in solving the alleged workplace abuse and exploitation within the industry.

“I do agree with Ms. Longoria that great-tasting Florida tomatoes should be grown in the most sustainable and socially responsible way,” states Shoemaker. “Our company has been farming in Florida for more than 70 years. We have always considered the people who harvest our crop part of our family.

“Since partnering in 2010 with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the organization that is the focus of ‘Food Chains,’ we have stepped up our game even more,” continued Shoemaker. “The CIW has engaged our farmworkers in a meaningful way. In fact, Lipman was one of the earliest supporters of the Fair Food Program that works to guarantee fair treatment.”

Shoemaker concluded, “…in the Sunshine State’s tomato fields – recently called ‘probably the best working environment in American agriculture’ by public policy expert Susan L. Marquis – we continue to implement changes that are revolutionizing the industry and bettering workers’ lives.”

It’s upsetting to see our industry portrayed in such a manner. I believe that more Florida tomato growers should engage in this important discussion, because although we cannot, and should not, hide the fact that farmworkers in the United States have worked in dire conditions for generations, I believe we must all work together to build a better future.