I went to Eastie Farm on February 10th. It is a city farm.
They are growing many vegetables for local people because healthy food is expensive for them. They come up with some ideas of how to grow. One of them is that they store rain in tanks by roof and pipe. They use it to water the vegetables. They told us that rain was good for grains. If we work there, we can get some vegetables instead of salary, so we help them as a volunteer. They are working on getting money from NPO.
I asked some questions. The topic of our presentation is decent work. First, I asked about a second work. In Japan, the population of farmers is decreasing more and more today. Many farmers work as a second job. Then, I asked what they thought about the fact. He said it was so bad, and farmers should not be a second job, but decent work because we cannot live without food, so growing food is essential for humans. Actually, they don’t have second jobs. Next, I asked the definition of “Decent work” for them. One of them said decent work is crucial for not society but our lives. Another one said decent work is a hard job. He answered that farmers are physical labor, so it is also decent work. From these answers, I realized the definition of “Decent work” depends on people. I want to ask this question to more people, and then I want to compare them. Actually, my family is farmers, so I will also ask them. Then, I will compare the U.S. and Japan too. I’m not familiar with NPO so I will search more about it.
Eastie Farm is very good even to learn about “Decent work.”
Mai Takeyama
