Latino, Haitian, and African-American communities in rural agricultural areas of Florida are overcoming apathy, racial divisions, and intimidation by building a strong, unified force that gives voice and power to the farmworkers of the state. The Farmworker Association of Florida is a strong multi-ethnic, economically viable organization with a solid 25-year history of leadership development and effective action for social change, committed to challenging and transforming the well-established systems that maintain farmworkers and the rural poor in situations of poverty, exploitation, and powerlessness.

• Welcome

• Our Mission

• Our Vision

• FWAF History

• Our Members

Welcome

Dear Supporter,

Consider for a moment a common need that connects us all – healthy food - so that we can continue to grow, care for our families, and live life to the fullest each day.  Now, take a moment to consider the links in the chain that bring that food to our tables – the land, the seeds, water and sunshine, and the hands that cultivate and harvest the crops.

I’ve spent my life surrounded by farmworkers – working in the fields, fighting discrimination and exploitation, building the power of farmworker communities, and advocating for farmworkers’ rights.  I am proud of who I am, and I am proud of our people.  We do a service to this society.

The intense labor of farmworkers each day contributes greatly to human health, yet farmworkers are often forgotten faces.  Imagine rising before the sun, enduring long work hours of rigorous physical labor, surrounded by the extreme Florida heat and humidity, and constant exposure to pesticides.  And after giving your full physical self, you still earn deplorable wages and live in impoverished conditions.  Despite these hardships, farmworker families somehow retain a spirit of community, faith, and perseverance.

All of us depend on the fruits of the earth for nourishment, and yet few understand the labor and risks involved in planting, tending, harvesting, and processing our food.  Let each meal remind us that we depend on the land and are blessed by the fruits of the earth and the work of farmers and field laborers.

Si se puede!

Tirso Moreno, FWAF General Coordinator

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Our Mission:

FWAF’s long-standing mission is to build power among farmworker and rural low-income communities to respond to and gain control over the social, political, workplace, economic, health, and environmental justice issues that impact their lives.

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Our Vision:

FWAF's guiding vision is a social environment where farmworkers' contribution, dignity, and worth is acknowledged, appreciated, and respected through economic, social, and environmental justice. This vision includes farmworkers being treated as equals, and not exploited and discriminated against based on race, ethnicity, immigrant status, or socioeconomic status.

In keeping true to the mission and guiding vision, FWAF's core strategy is to help farmworkers realize their power to be effective agents of social and personal change by:

• validating and strengthening the experience and understanding of farmworkers;
• building farmworkers' capacity to participate in decision-making processes that affect their lives;
• raising consciousness about and advocating for farmworkers' rights and justice.

Toward this goal, FWAF's programs and activities build leadership and activist skills among low-income communities of color who are disproportionately affected by pesticide exposure/health problems, environmental contamination, racism, exploitation, and political under-representation.

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FWAF History

The Farmworker Association of Florida, Inc. evolved from the Farmworker Association of Central Florida, an organization that was established by a group of farmworkers in Mascotte in 1983 to respond to the needs of the farmworker community in Central Florida. The founding purpose of the Association was to organize farmworkers more effectively in their struggle for better housing, wages, and working conditions. The Association was incorporated in 1986, and expanded statewide in 1992. Over the last 25 years, FWAF has grown to be a statewide organization with more than 8,000 member families, and five locations throughout Central and South Florida.

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Our Members

FWAF is a grassroots community-based organization comprised of multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural families who work primarily in the vegetable, citrus, mushroom, sod, fern, and foliage industries in thirteen counties throughout Central and South Florida. The members are approximately 94% Latino (predominately Mexican, Guatemalan, and Salvadoran), 3% Haitian, and 3% African American. Approximately 40% are women

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