Milk with Dignity Program Report: 2018-2024

Migrant Justice celebrates the seven-year anniversary of the Milk with Dignity Program! On October 3rd, 2017, farmworkers stood side-by-side with the CEO of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream to sign the first Milk with Dignity agreement and launch this transformational program.

In the seven years since Milk with Dignity’s founding, the Program has brought unprecedented improvements to the living and working conditions of hundreds of farmworkers in Vermont and New York. Over 50 participating farms have benefited from the millions of dollars in Milk with Dignity premium and other program supports. Milk with Dignity’s farmworker-authored standards and strong enforcement mechanisms have turned workers into frontline defenders of their own human rights on the farm.

Read the Milk with Dignity Program impact report!

The new Program report (the fourth so far) is packed full of facts and figures showing the impact of Milk with Dignity, as farms improve conditions to comply with the Code of Conduct. It also highlights how the Program is successfully tackling difficult issues – from workplace violence, to child labor, to the construction of new farmworker housing – and contains interviews with farmworkers about how Milk with Dignity is transforming the dairy industry.

Jania recounts her first education session after moving to a farm in the Program:

“I was surprised. I never thought an immigrant woman like me could have rights here. I was especially surprised that there was a phone number I could call anytime if a coworker was overstepping or being inappropriate. Finding the Program, and people for whom my rights matter, it’s been something really beautiful.”

Milk with Dignity by the Numbers

• 256 qualifying workers on 54 participating farms across 2 states
• 20% of Vermont’s total dairy production covered by the Program
• $5.35 million invested in workers’ wages and bonuses and in improvements to labor and housing conditions
• 1,611 inquiries from workers and farmers on the 24/7 Worker Support Line
• 611 violations of the farmworker-authored Code of Conduct resolved following worker complaints
• 212 farm audits, including 941 farmworker interviews, 315 management interviews, 268 worksite inspections, and 218 housing unit inspections
• 2,281 audit findings addressed through Corrective Action Plans agreed to by farmers
• 247 Program education sessions, with 1,291 worker and manager participants

Workers aren’t the only ones benefiting from Milk with Dignity. Farm owner Denna writes a section for the report about her farms’ experience in the Program building new, high-quality farmworker housing. She concludes: “More programs like Milk with Dignity and their partners are what Vermont agriculture needs to stay viable.”

The new report comes on the heels of the publication of preliminary data from our recent survey of 200+ dairy workers. It demonstrates the sharp contrast between the low wages and lack of protections outside of Milk with Dignity, and the rights and benefits enjoyed by workers covered by the Program. This difference is a clear indication of why companies should follow in the footsteps of Ben & Jerry’s and join Milk with Dignity.

Ervin, a farmworker in the Program, sums it up: “Farms need us. These companies need us. If there weren’t agriculture, there wouldn’t be food. We deserve a dignified living. That’s what everyone deserves.”