The Humans Who Feed Us

Thousands of individuals work across the food supply chain ranging from agricultural workers, restaurant workers, grocery store employees, truck drivers, meat and poultry workers, and so many others. Immigrant community members are among those who help to feed us through their work. Many of these workers are often invisible to people and the communities where they work and live even though they touch our lives every day through their life-sustaining labor. 

“The Humans Who Feed Us” is a national project of Justice for Migrant Women and its founder, Mónica Ramírez, to humanize these individuals; to show the interdependence among businesses, the workers they employ and consumers; and to foster a sense of belonging for these incredible community members in the places where they live and work.

“The Humans Who Feed Us” was originally launched in August 2021 in Ohio with a focus on agricultural workers. It was scaled nationally in November 2021 and expanded to include immigrant community members employed across the food supply chain, including dairy, poultry, restaurant and grocery store workers. Together, each of these individuals plays a role to ensure that we each have the food to sustain ourselves and to celebrate special moments. 

In June 2022, Mónica Ramírez was recognized with a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award for her work on “The Humans Who Feed Us” and her career dedicated to advancing the rights of migrant women. The Leadership Award recognizes specific outstanding initiatives as well as bodies of work and lifetime achievement. 

The project counts on the support of ally organizations, including Race Forward,  internationally-renowned Chef Ingrid Hoffmann and other chef partners, as well as more than 100 restaurants, universities and corporations.

 Essential workers, many of whom are immigrant women, provide life sustaining work through their labor. Yet, many of these community members are denied basic rights and face challenges such as unfair wages and workplace harassment. Such challenges are greater for immigrants in low paid industries, such as the food supply chain, who many times lack access to physical, mental and legal support. Workers in the food supply chain are among the 5 million undocumented essential workers in the United States who have always done essential work. Join us in not only celebrating their contributions to our community, but working together toward a world that treats all workers with dignity and respect.