Valuing the work of farmers’ is a short documentary based upon the book ‘Eerlijk Loon' (Fair Income) by Elske Hageraats, exploring how we can build equity, care and financial security into our local food systems. Following the stories of four women peasant farmers on small-scale organic CSA (community-supported agriculture) farms in the Netherlands, we are taken into a discussion about livelihoods, labour, economy, our relationship to nature, and how to respond to the looming crises of our time. Elske explains her idea of 'Solidarity Payment' - a new economy that is fair, sustainable and inclusive:
- FAIR: the producer get's a fair price for the time they work
- SUSTAINABLE: the costs, that belong to sustainable production, can be covered
- INCLUSIVE: the customer can pay according to their own income, so that everyone gets access to local, organic food.
In order to achieve this, Elske asks the shareholders in her CSA garden: "It takes me on average 1 hour to produce this veggy bag. What is the wage you want to give to me? Preferably based on your own wage." That can be 5 euro or 100 euro, it's all ok and based on trust. After introducing Solidairity Payment in the CSA farm, Ommuurde Tuin earned 10.000 euro more within one year. Farmer Siem from another farm in the Netherlands, went from 12 euro per hour to 21 euro per hour. Because of these success stories, more and more peasant farmers, as well as other producers like carpenters and blacksmith etc. are now introducing 'solidarity payment' into their company.
🌿 👩🌾 ~ filmed, produced & directed by: Tialda van der Wal & Freyja Haddrill-Selman
Want to learn more about solidarity payment? Check eerlijkloon.eu, or contact Elske via elske.hageraats(at)gmail.com