Farm Workers in Mexico's Export Agriculture

October 15, 2018
5th Floor Board Room, Wilson Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW, 20004

Conference Report

About half of U.S. fresh fruit (53 percent in 2017) and almost a third of U.S. fresh vegetables (31 percent in 2017) are imported. Mexico supplied 48 percent of the imported fresh fruit and 68 percent of the imported fresh vegetables in 2017. Avocados worth $1.9 billion and tomatoes worth $1.8 billion were the leading US fresh fruit and vegetable imports from Mexico.

This seminar, sponsored by the Walmart Foundation, reviews the status of Mexico-US agricultural trade, the first findings of surveys of Mexican farm workers, and industry and NGO certification efforts to encourage farm employers to abide by labor laws. The lunchtime panel will explore how conditions for Mexican farm workers may change under newly elected President AMLO.

Agenda

Click here for directions to the Wilson Center. If you have any questions, please contact Philip Martin and Rachel Schmidtke.

We look forward to seeing you October 15, 2018.

8:30-9:00: Registration/Coffee and pastries

9:00-9:10: Welcome and Introduction
Philip Martin, UC-Davis

9:10-9:45: Mexican Fruit and Vegetable Exports to the US
Steve Zahniser, USDA-ERS

9:45-10:45: CIESAS-Migration Dialogue-Wilson Project: First Data
Agustín Escobar, CIESAS

10:45-11:00: Coffee Break

11:00-12:30: Industry Codes of Conduct and Certification
Mario Steta, AHIFORES (Skype) and John Erb, Driscolls
Tom Stenzel, United Fresh
Peter O'Driscoll, EFI
Jenifer Jackson and Nathalie Marin Gest, FairTradeUSA

12:30-2:00: Working Lunch: AMLO and Rural Mexico
Arturo Sarukhan, Former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S.
Andrew Selee, MPI
Agustin Escobar, CIESAS
Jonathan Fox, American University

2:00 pm Adjourn

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