Domestic Fair Trade Association Annual Meeting at FWAF Office in Apopka, December, 2013

Sharing an Event from 2013

Toxic Tour for Annual Meeting of the DFTA

The Farmworker Association of Florida hosted the annual meeting of the Domestic Fair Trade Association http://www.thedfta.org/ in Apopka in early December, with DFTA members coming from all over the United States and Canada for this important and timely annual meeting.   The unseasonably warm Florida weather was a welcome treat for those traveling from northern states experiencing harsh winter storms and cold. 

 To kick off the DFTA annual meeting, attendees went on a Lake Apopka Toxic Tour to learn about the realities of  farmworkers, social justice, and  environmental justice for agricultural workers in Central Florida.  They saw the connection between environmental contamination, farmworker health, and the intersection of conventional agriculture, health and social justice.   

The DFTA supports health, justice and sustainable agriculture, but many members were moved by experiencing the ‘up close and personal’ stories of the Lake Apopka farmworkers and by seeing the former Lake Apopka farmlands and learning of their history. 

While the Toxic Tour can be very sobering and even disturbing, the final stop on the Tour was to the Apopka Community Garden, where the work of the community members in growing 

their own food was greatly and especially appreciated by this group of participants who are devoted to seeing alternative food systems grow and thrive.  




 The Toxic Tour, along with the showing of the short documentary, “Los Naranjeros” at the FWAF office afterwards, set the stage for the next several days of meetings of the DFTA, and gave context and relevance to the work that members and participants engaged in during their stay. 

Our wishes for a more just and sustainable 2014 for all!