Manuel Diaz of CATA conducts an interview with a worker on Keewaydin Farms during the 2009m pilots.

AJP's Upper Midwest Pilot Projects Begins Transition to
Full-Scale Program

Trish Dougherty of MOSA compares audit notes with Richard Mandlebaum of AJP during the 2009 audit of Keewaydin Farms.

The AJP team traveled to Wisconsin in early July to supervise the regional pilot audits. This year AJP's regional partners, Midwestern Organic Services Association and Centro Campesino, took the lead on much of the audit process, conducting interviews with guidance from AJP. As part of a three-year transition plan, participants and AJP will evaluate the success of this year's audit process, and MOSA will incorporate AJP into their certification options for next year.

Ernesto Bustos of Centro Campesino and Richard Mandlebaum of CATA discuss results of worker interviews on Keewaydin Farms during the 2009 audits.

Certified and labeled produce from the participating farms is being sold at the Bluff country Co-op in Winona, MN. In addition to selling certified produce, Bluff Country Co-op is the first co-op in the country to certify their internal operations to AJP standards.

Bluff Country Co-op General Manager Liz Haywood accepts their pilot certificate from AJP's Elizabeth Henderson.

AJP's Participatory Audit Model

AJP uses a unique approach to certification that includes in-depth interviews, incorporates community participation, and allows for regional variability. Experience gained in the Upper Midwestern pilot, and the expertise and suggestions of MOSA and Centro Campesino participants have helped AJP to refine this process. AJP audits are conducted by participating Organic certifiers, and a regional worker advocacy organization conducts interviews with the operation's employees. The involvement of the worker advocate in the audit helps create a trusting environment for interviewees, and guarantees auditors access to knowledge of major worker issues.

Elizabeth Henderson of AJP conducts an interview with an intern at Hoch Orchards during the 2009 audits.

Interest in AJP Spreads to New Regions

SSARE Organizing Begins-Development of Southern Pilot

The Agricultural Justice Project and seven other collaborators were recently awarded a three-year research and education project grant by the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SSARE)program. The project will survey organic farmers in the south regarding their fair farm priorities and practices; apply the AJP standards on several farms in the South; explore the impact of the AJP model on the lives of people working in the food system; research public support and priorities for fairness in the food system; and design and launch an education program aimed at increasing participation of farm workers, farmers, retailers , and the public in a fair food system. This year (2009) we will begin recruiting farmers and retailers to participate in subsidized AJP certification.

Potential CA Pilot with University of California at Santa Cruz

AJP has been working with Advisory Committee member Sandy Brown, of Swanton berry Farm, and the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems' (CASFS) Farm to College program to develop the capacity to conduct an AJP assessment in California. The goal of this initiative would be to certify some of the farms that supply UC Santa Cruz dining halls. In early June members of AJP traveled to Santa Cruz to give a presentation on at the University's Field-to-Form event, hosted by CASFS.

Elizabeth Henderson and Marty Mesh of AJP visit Freewheelin Farms, one of the farms interested in participating in a potential AJP pilot with UC Santa Cruz.

Farmer Direct: Possible Audit this Fall

AJP has provided technical assistance to Farmer Direct, a cooperative of 70 Organic grain farmers in Canada interested in AJP certification, to build their internal infrastructure to become a Grower Group. AJP hopes to conduct an initial audit of Farmer Direct this fall.

History of AJP Pilot Development

The Agricultural Justice Project team worked for several years to develop a U.S. Pilot project to test its social stewardship standards on the ground. Through outreach and collaboration, the group built relationships with farmers, retailers, non-profits, and farmworker organizations around the county who are interested in developing a model of a just food system. The AJP also convened a national Advisory Council representing a broad array of stakeholders to advise and inform the group's progress AJP meets with this Advisory Council on an annual basis. During this time, Quality Certification Services (QCS) developed the application and inspection forms, report language, and confidentiality documents necessary for a social justice certification.

The first step in piloting the project was to do informal inspections of farms in four regions of the county. These exploratory audits confirmed that AJP standards are realistic: farmers expressed the ability and desire to meet them.

Dennis Zenk at Bluff Country Co-op in Winona, Minnesota.

A "pre-audit" of several of the region's exemplary farms and co-ops in 2006 revealed outstanding practices, but a lack of the type of documentation that would be required for verification by a certifier. Over the following winter, the AJP team developed a toolkit of information and resources to help the farms and co-ops document their good practices.

In the spring of 2007, QCS and the AJP team conducted official pilot certification audits of four farms and two co-ops in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The official rollout of the pilot label will take place in July 2007 at restaurants and food co-ops in Minneapolis and Winona, Minnesota.

Elizabeth Henderson and Marty Mesh of AJP observe Trish Dougherty and Nicki Dallman of MOSA conducting an interview with farmer Rufus Haucke of Keewaydin Farms during the 2009 audits.