End the suffering behind your food

Oxfam Behind the Price campaign

Behind the food we buy are millions of people who grow, catch and process it, passing it along a supply chain until it ends up in our homes.

But in a global food industry worth trillions of dollars, far too many of the women and men behind our food are being forced into lives of hardship and suffering, working long hours in inhumane conditions for little reward.

These conditions keep people trapped in poverty – and it is getting worse.

This must change

As corporate food giants exercise more power over our food supply, an increasingly small portion of the money we pay for our food actually reaches hard-working farmers, fishers and workers at the start of the chain - in many cases, less than 10 percent.

The burden of this injustice falls more heavily on women. They do most of the lowest paid and least secure jobs, and face discrimination over pay and conditions.

Human suffering should never be an ingredient in the food we eat

Help us challenge those in power to make sure small-scale farmers, fishers and workers who produce our food are being treated and paid fairly.

You can use your influence to campaign for real change and demand that our food is produced in a way that we can all live with.

The more of us that choose to stand with the people producing the food we buy, the sooner we can start to take the suffering out of our shopping.

Assam, India, has the largest area under tea plantation in the world, and yet the conditions of their labour lines are one of the worst.

The story of the people behind the food we buy

Food producers and workers from around the world are the life-source for our communities and families. Yet all too often they work in dangerous conditions for poverty pay, toiling as frontliners in fields and factories to provide food. They have been severely affected by Covid-19 related restrictions, pushed further into poverty and hunger – despite giant food companies making millions in profits.
Supermarkets scorecard

Does your supermarket food contain human suffering?

We scored 16 of the biggest supermarkets in Europe and the US on how they tackle critical issues affecting the people working in their food supply chains. Overall, while some are doing better than others, all supermarkets lack sufficient policies to properly protect the people who produce our food.
Human suffering should never be an ingredient in the food we eat. Take action and help us uncover what is hidden behind the price of the food we buy.

About the campaign

Did you know that some fishermen in Southeast Asia report working at sea for up to 14 hours a day and 27 days a month, earning as little as $0.50 per hour? Whether it is fished or farmed, sold in local markets or stocked on supermarket shelves, too much of the food we buy is produced at the expense of human welfare.
Tagged with
food supply chain global food production food prices livelihoods small scale farmers