Employer of choice? Be assured of that

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2021 edition of AFG magazine, available online here.

Growers taking steps to attract workers this season may be able to boost their credentials with customers as well by signing up to a voluntary certification program, and in the process complying with the ethical sourcing requirements of the three major supermarket retailers in Australia.

Transparency and customer expectation

An increasing number of growers are applying for certification they are good employers through Fair Farms, an industry-designed, voluntary program that provides best-practice standards for the fair and equitable treatment of employees.

Since it was launched by Queensland’s peak horticulture body Growcom in June 2019, Fair Farms has certified 70 growers and another 300 are currently progressing through the certification pathway.

Fair Farms national program manager, Marsha Aralar*, says it’s a tool for industry to show zero tolerance to worker exploitation and meet the expectations of customers.

“Customers are increasingly demanding products that have been ethically sourced, and this includes workplace practices. ALDI Australia, Coles and Woolworths have all accepted Fair Farms as an accreditation platform for local growers,” says Ms Aralar.

Incorporating elements of the global ethical business platform Sedex, Fair Farms was developed for Australian conditions through round table discussions between growers, unions, auditors and
retailers, in response to exploitative farm work practices revealed in the 2017 Harvest Trail Report.

“The report highlighted incidences of unpaid wages, poor living conditions and exploitation of workers, so rather than be continually tarnished by bad operators, we designed a mechanism to highlight those who were doing the right thing,” Ms Aralar says.

Retail and responsibility

ALDI Australia’s Director Corporate Responsibility, Daniel Baker, says the company expects its business partners to embed responsibility in their own operations, and supports Fair Farms
and Sedex systems to assess compliance with local workplace law and global standards on modern slavery.

“ALDI’s Supplier Standards are based on United Nations conventions and establish minimum standards that must be met by suppliers. They form part of all the company’s business partner contracts,” Mr Baker says.

“We see Fair Farms’ audit code as a useful tool that we use to assess adherence to our Supplier Standards and help identify any issues.”

“The third-party audits must be conducted by accredited specialists and are reviewed by our team, and remediation is conducted when necessary.”

Fair Farms allows growers to demonstrate with transparency that they are ethical employers.

Funding and frameworks

Developed and implemented by Growcom with support from the Fair Work Ombudsman, the Federal Department of Agriculture and AUSVEG, Fair Farms received another four years of funding in the 2021 Federal budget.

Fair Farms is written into Hort Innovation’s Australian-grown Horticulture Sustainability Framework to address global Sustainable Development Goals, to enable growers to demonstrate transparently to the supply chain, prospective workers and consumers that they’re complying with the law.

The pathway to certification involves an online self-assessment followed by training, an independent third-party audit to international standards, and certification, with re-certification cycles of either one, two or three years depending on the result of audits.

Audits involve a site tour, worker interviews, a review of documentation and eligibility and payroll testing. Depending on the number and severity of findings, businesses may have from a minimum of 12 months to a maximum time of 36 months between audits.

“It can be a challenge for growers to keep up with constantly changing legislation on everything from wages to responsible use of labour hire providers and monitoring a person’s eligibility to
work,” says Marsha Aralar.

“We’re currently doing a targeted program review that will consider how the pathway to certification can be made simpler, cheaper and quicker for smaller growers and those who do not
supply the major supermarkets.

“Rather than a ‘Gotcha!’ system, we want Fair Farms to raise the capability and awareness of growers so that the attitude to accreditation is ‘You’d be crazy not to’. Ultimately, Fair Farms is about
ensuring Australia has a strong, thriving horticulture industry that also benefits the broader community as a whole.”

New funding: On 25 October the Australian Government granted Growcom $3.2 million over four years to bolster uptake of the Fair Farms program under the AgATTRACT initiative.

Becoming a Fair Farm

1. Online Self-Assessment

The first step is to check how compliant your current employment practices are by completing the Online Self-Assessment (OSA). It should take between 1-2 hours to complete. Fair Farms participants must complete the OSA annually.

2. Training

Participants can choose what type of training meets their learning styles and budget, as an employer of people in horticulture. Fair Farms Training is available through online e-learning, phone consults or face-to-face training sessions. Once certified, participants are required to complete at least 2 hours of training annually.

3. Audit

Participants seeking Fair Farms certification need to undergo an independent third-party audit and clear any findings. The audit will be conducted by a Fair Farms approved Certification Body and will assess employment practices at all relevant sites.

4. Certification

Once the audit is completed you will be issued with a Fair Farms Certificate demonstrating that your business is compliant with the Fair Farms Standard.

5. Re-certification

Your certificate will state the due date for the next re-certification audit. The cycle is either 1, 2 or 3 years, depending on the outcome of your previous audit.

* Fair Farms appointed a new National Program Manager Sachin Ayachit on 22 November 2021