WASHINGTON – As part of its commitment to industry education and support, as well as fostering a culture of continuous improvement on agricultural operations, Equitable Food Initiative, the workforce development and certification organization that partners with growers, farmworkers, retailers and consumer advocacy groups, has joined the Mexican Association of Protected Horticulture (AMHPAC) for a series of Spanish-language webinars for its members next month.
AMHPAC is promoting, “Cumplimiento Social: Camino a Mejorar Rendimiento” (or Social Compliance: A Pathway to Improving Performance), a social compliance webinar series on November 10 and 12. Its focus is on providing business performance through social compliance and will count on Rebecca Chavez, Business Development Manager at EFI as a co-facilitator, along with various other EFI team members.
The webinars are funded as part of a Walmart Foundation grant and have a threefold initiative: to promote the Ethical Charter on Responsible Labor Practices in Mexico, position EFI as an expert resource for compliance with the Charter and cultivate contacts between the United States and Mexico.
Airing live, each session will be one hour, including time for Q&A. The webinars will range from introductory to more advanced topics related to compliance of the Ethical Charter. The webinars can be registered for as a series but will also serve as stand-alone sessions, allowing attendees to register individually.
“This is a great opportunity for attendees and the industry as a whole to better understand what EFI is all about – a multi-stakeholder organization that is dedicated to meeting industry needs first and foremost,” said Chavez. “We are honored to co-facilitate these important conversations with a respected association like AMHPAC and look forward to strengthening our relationship for years to come.”
“Compliance with the Ethical Charter is a critical topic, and we are proud to bring resources to our member organizations so that they know where to start on a path toward continuous improvement,” said Alfredo Diaz, CEO for AMHPAC. “We are pleased to bring EFI and a team of experts from its multistakeholder organization to share learnings from farming operations already leading this work.”
Topics will include an introduction to the Ethical Charter, myths and realities of social compliance, integrating workers’ voices, and a discussion on responsible recruitment.
For more information on the webinars, please email Rebecca Chávez at rchavez@equitablefood.org. AMHPAC members can also sign up directly at these links: November 10 sessions and November 12 sessions.
About EFI
Equitable Food Initiative is a nonprofit certification and skill-building organization that seeks to increase transparency in the food supply chain and improve the lives of farmworkers through a team-based approach to training and continuous improvement practices. EFI brings together growers, farmworkers, retailers and consumers to solve the most pressing issues facing the fresh produce industry. Its unparalleled approach sets standards for labor practices, food safety and pest management while engaging workers at all levels on the farm to produce Responsibly Grown, Farmworker Assured® fruits and vegetables. For more information about Equitable Food Initiative, visit equitablefood.org/.
View a list of EFI-certified farms at equitablefood.org/efi-certified-farms/.
About AMHPAC
In the Mexican Association of Protected Horticulture (AMHPAC) we constantly reinvent ourselves, focused on the development of the industry and the management of better conditions for our Partners, related to the production, packaging, distribution and marketing of fresh vegetables under protected schemes in Mexico. We currently have 402 affiliated companies that produce almost 1,500 million tons of vegetables in 10,770 hectares that generate around $1,400 million dollars in foreign exchange and more than 100,000 jobs; the main crops produced being tomato, pepper and cucumber.
For more information about AMHPAC visit www.amhpac.org
