The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) published its report, Food Work: The Workers Behind Our Food and the Exploitation They Face (October 2026), examining working conditions across food systems and setting out levers for change to secure dignified food work. The report was developed with input from an IPES-Food Working Group and an external Advisory Group, as well as interviews with experts.
Human Level’s Take:
- Who grows, processes and delivers the food we eat – and on what terms? IPES-Food finds that food systems employ nearly 1.4 billion people, two out of every five workers globally, yet 30% of food system workers earn below a living wage.
- Labour rights risks run through every link of the food chain. Around 90% of agricultural employment is informal, food service workers face the highest rates of workplace sexual harassment of any industry, and delivery riders suffer an estimated 1,000 accidents every day.
- The workers most exposed are often the least able to speak up. Migrant workers are three times as likely as non-migrant workers to be trapped in forced labour, and employer-tied visas make it nearly impossible for them to report abuse without risking termination or deportation. Under workplace surveillance, the report finds some workers limit conversations with colleagues for fear of being monitored.
- Standard due diligence tools can miss these risks. Of 215 corporate codes of conduct and social labels reviewed, only 25% mentioned forced labour and 15% referenced freedom of association. The report also finds that audits and certification have repeatedly failed to detect exploitation.
- Worker-driven models offer another route. Under the ‘worker-driven social responsibility model’, buyers sign legally binding agreements with workers, who set standards and oversee independent enforcement.
- The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) reaches the companies that control an overwhelming share of global food trade. With monitoring of indirect suppliers limited to visible violations, however, compliance alone may not reach informal work, where many food workers sit.
- For companies, the road ahead could include mapping where informality and migrant recruitment sit in their supply chains, looking beyond audits to worker-led monitoring and grievance channels that workers trust, assessing heat stress and surveillance risks, and reviewing how their market power affects wages.
Some key takeaways:
- Food work at scale: IPES-Food finds that nearly 1.4 billion people work in the agrifood sector – two out of every five workers globally – while 3.8 billion people, almost half the world’s population, live in households that rely on food and farming for their livelihoods. The report describes food systems as the world’s largest employer, with no other sector exploiting workers in more ways, from farmworkers, fishers and slaughterhouse staff to delivery drivers, restaurant and supermarket employees and domestic workers. Globally, 30% of food system workers (416 million people) earn below a living wage. Agriculture accounts for one-third of all global workplace deaths, yet 80% of agricultural workers have never received workplace safety training, the worst rate of any sector. Informality is widespread: around 90% of agricultural employment and 60–80% of non-agricultural food employment is informal, and informal workers earn on average 56% of the monthly wages of formally employed workers. An estimated 2.1 million people work in forced labour conditions in agriculture, generating more than US$5 billion in illegal profits in 2021, while more than 83 million children work in the sector, representing 61% of all child labour worldwide.
- Where human rights risks are most acute: The report finds that harms are not evenly distributed: women, racialised workers and migrants disproportionately occupy the lowest-paid, most dangerous and least protected jobs, with gender-based discrimination intersecting with race, caste, class and migration status. Migrant workers make up an estimated quarter of farmworkers globally, rising to over 86% in the US and around 90% of the workforce in Thai fishing and shrimp processing. Employer-tied visas make it nearly impossible for them to report abuse without facing termination or deportation, and many pay thousands of dollars in recruitment fees before reaching the workplace. As a result, migrant workers are three times as likely as non-migrant workers to be trapped in forced labour and significantly more likely to die on the job. Workers’ collective power is also under pressure: dominant corporations use their market power to drive down wages and counter union organising, while under workplace surveillance, workers report limiting conversations with colleagues for fear of being monitored. Beyond farms, food service workers face the highest rates of workplace sexual harassment of any industry, and app-based delivery riders suffer an estimated 1,000 accidents every day, with the vast majority denied workplace injury compensation. Climate breakdown is adding to these risks, with heat stress already the most common occupational health threat in agriculture.
- Strengthening due diligence through worker-driven accountability: The report finds that voluntary codes of conduct, social labels and certification schemes are no substitute for binding regulation. A review of 215 corporate codes of conduct and social labels found that while most addressed occupational health and safety, only 25% mentioned forced labour and 15% referenced freedom of association. The audit and certification industry has also repeatedly failed to detect or deter exploitation. IPES-Food highlights the worker-driven social responsibility model as an alternative. Under this model, legally binding agreements between workers and companies at the top of supply chains, such as retailers and restaurants, ensure suppliers respect workers’ rights and provide higher wages, with workers setting standards and overseeing independent enforcement funded by the companies. Initiated by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers through its Fair Food Program in the US, the model has spread to Chile and South Africa, with similar approaches in India’s sugarcane industry and Scotland’s fishing industry. The report also sets out the business case for living wages, outlining evidence that businesses adopting living wages can benefit from more productive, resilient workforces, as reduced food and housing insecurity eases workers’ physical and mental strain. On regulation, IPES-Food notes that because the food sector is highly consolidated, the companies in scope of the CSDDD – including major grocery retailers, grain traders and food processors – control an overwhelming share of global food trade. However, the Directive limits monitoring of indirect suppliers to visible violations, while the report finds that exploitation in food systems remains largely out of sight, underreported and difficult to challenge.
