NEWS + EVENTS

UPCOMING EVENTS

Bathrooms & Dignity Project

submit stories by Dec 1, 2024 - here

Farmworkers: have you ever had to poop in the woods or dump your menstrual cup by the treeline and go back to harvesting? Same. Let’s talk about it.

Since 2019, Not Our Farm has interviewed over one hundred farmworkers working on small farms across the country. What has come up time and time again is the issue of bathrooms on farms, specifically the lack of bathrooms. Many small farms are not regulated by the FDA for food safety standards and often have too small of a staff for OSHA standards to be enforced. Often small farms have multiple sites or fields, which can make providing bathrooms difficult, or because of the outdoor nature of farming, farm owners may think it is okay to just use the woods or fence lines. Regardless of the reasons behind not providing bathrooms, the hardship that a lack of bathroom access poses to farmworkers is significant and unacceptable.

The purpose of this project is to build solidarity and power among farmworkers around their experiences with the lack of dignified and sanitary personal hygiene spaces on farms, and also to raise awareness with consumers and the general public about the realities and harsh conditions for farmworkers. We also hope to offer ideas to farm owners on how to navigate bathroom access on farms by sharing resources and unique information from farms who have managed to provide safe and dignified bathroom access for their workers. This project is being funded by the Local Food Safety Collaborative, and the intersections between labor standards and food safety implications are very real and will be highlighted, as well.

Farmworkers, please submit your bathrooms stories with us for publication in our zine! If your submission is selected to be in the zine, we will compensate you with a $150 stipend.

Unfortunately due to funding limits, we will not be able to select all submissions for publication, but we truly value all of your stories and are looking for ways to showcase all submissions outside of the zine.

Submission deadline is December 1, 2024.