Noam Scheiber New York Times October 18, 2017

Greg Asbed has spent much of his life fighting horrific labor abuses, including slavery. An organizer and human rights strategist, he co-founded the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a group that pioneered a system for overcoming brutal conditions in American agriculture. Last week, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awarded Mr. Asbed one of 24 annual fellowships, known colloquially as a “genius grant,” to support his work in this area.

Mr. Asbed’s group, based in Immokalee, Fla., the state’s tomato capital, has reached agreements with Walmart, McDonald’s and a dozen other major buyers of farm products to take part in its Fair Food Program. The companies pay a small premium for each unit of crop they purchase, sometimes referred to in shorthand as a “penny per pound,” and the growers agree to abide by a code of conduct on issues like worker safety and pay, which the premium funds.  See full story.

Photo caption: Greg Asbed, a labor activist in Florida, was awarded a $625,000 MacArthur fellowship last week. (Credit: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)