Building Human Rights Capability Across Produce Supply Chains

Fresh Del Monte Produce’s sustainability approach connects the quality of food with the conditions under which it is grown, packed, transported and sold. Human rights due diligence is central to that connection because responsible sourcing requires more than checking whether a supplier has completed a questionnaire or passed a scheduled inspection.

Training suppliers in human rights due diligence and auditing helps turn policy into daily practice. It gives growers, packers, labour providers and logistics partners the tools to identify risks, listen to workers, correct problems and demonstrate progress. For customers and retailers in Australia, where scrutiny of modern slavery and ethical sourcing is increasing, this kind of capability-building supports a more transparent fresh produce market.

Why Supplier Training Matters

Agricultural supply chains can involve seasonal work, labour hire, migrant workers, remote farms and multiple tiers of contractors. These conditions may create risks involving recruitment fees, excessive working hours, underpayment, unsafe accommodation, discrimination, child labour or restrictions on freedom of association. Suppliers need practical guidance to recognise these risks before they become serious harm.

A strong training programme explains the difference between a compliance exercise and a continuing human rights process. Suppliers learn how to map their workforce, assess risks by location and activity, keep reliable records, engage workers and establish effective remedy. They also learn that responsibility cannot be transferred to a labour broker simply because another company manages recruitment or payroll.

The approach supports the wider work presented through Fresh Del Monte’s sustainability platform, where environmental stewardship, community development, ethical business conduct and responsible agriculture are treated as connected priorities. Healthy food depends on healthy, fairly treated communities as well as productive land.

From Policies To Practical Due Diligence

Supplier training begins with clear expectations. A supplier code of conduct should cover internationally recognised human rights, workplace safety, fair treatment, lawful wages, working hours, recruitment practices, privacy and protection from retaliation. The requirements must be available in languages workers and supervisors understand, with examples suited to farms, packhouses and transport operations.

Training should then move through a repeatable due diligence cycle: identify risks, prevent or reduce them, track results, communicate honestly and provide or support remedy when harm occurs. A supplier may need help reviewing labour contractors, verifying wage calculations, improving accommodation or documenting incidents. Practical exercises are often more useful than lengthy presentations because they show how a principle applies during a real harvest season.

For Australian operations and buyers, this aligns with expectations under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth). Australian entities meeting the legislation’s reporting threshold must describe actions taken to assess and address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains. Businesses serving customers in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and other cities increasingly expect suppliers to provide credible evidence rather than broad statements about ethical sourcing.

Making Audits More Effective

Auditing remains useful when it is risk-based, independent where appropriate and linked to corrective action. A quality audit examines payroll, recruitment records, working hours, health and safety controls, accommodation and grievance systems. It also tests whether written procedures reflect what workers experience in the field or on the production line.

Worker interviews are essential. Interviews should be conducted privately, in suitable languages and without supervisors or labour agents present. Auditors need to consider whether employees feel safe speaking openly, including seasonal and migrant workers who may fear losing work or accommodation. A clean document review cannot compensate for workers being unable to report abuse, wage deductions or unsafe conditions.

Training helps suppliers prepare for this deeper form of assessment. It can explain how to protect interview confidentiality, preserve records, respond to findings and avoid coaching workers before an audit. It also reinforces that the purpose of auditing is to identify and resolve harm, rather than to conceal problems until a visit has ended.

Corrective Action And Worker Remedy

An audit finding should lead to a proportionate corrective action plan with owners, deadlines and follow-up evidence. A missing fire exit may require immediate action, while a complex recruitment-fee issue may need worker repayment, contract changes, broker controls and several rounds of verification. The most serious risks should receive urgent attention, even if resolving their underlying causes takes time.

Effective remedy puts affected workers at the centre. If wages were withheld, repayment should reach the people owed. If workers paid illegal recruitment fees, the response should address both reimbursement and the recruitment system that created the debt. If someone experienced harassment or discrimination, the supplier needs a confidential process, protection from retaliation and a fair investigation.

Grievance channels should be accessible beyond a manager’s office. In Australian horticulture, a worker may be living on a farm, moving between seasonal employers or relying on a labour-hire provider. Reporting options may therefore include phone, text, translated materials and trusted community organisations. The Fair Work Act 2009 and the work of the Fair Work Ombudsman provide important reference points for lawful employment, but suppliers still need systems that make rights understandable and usable in practice.

Working With Australian Market Expectations

Australian consumers are accustomed to buying bananas, avocados, pineapples and other produce through major supermarket chains, independent grocers, farmers’ markets and online delivery services. Freshness and price matter, but ethical origin is increasingly part of how shoppers judge value. Retailers also need reliable information about labour standards when sourcing from domestic farms and international production regions.

A supplier training programme can support this market by improving traceability from farm or packhouse to customer. Records should identify relevant production sites, labour providers and processing steps while respecting privacy and commercial confidentiality. Data needs to be accurate enough to support risk decisions, not merely collected for an annual report.

The same discipline applies to environmental and packaging choices. For example, operational changes such as biodegradable twist ties can reduce waste, but responsible procurement also requires attention to the people manufacturing, handling and disposing of those materials. Human rights due diligence should extend across significant suppliers, including packaging, transport and service providers.

Measuring Progress Beyond Pass Rates

A high audit pass rate does not automatically prove that workers are protected. Useful indicators include the percentage of suppliers trained, the proportion of high-risk sites with current assessments, the time taken to close serious findings, the number of workers reached through grievance channels and whether reported cases receive effective remedy. Results should be reviewed by region, commodity, supplier type and workforce profile.

Training effectiveness can be tested through knowledge checks, supervisor observations, worker feedback and repeat assessments. If suppliers continue making the same errors, the response may need to change: simpler materials, local-language instruction, coaching for labour brokers or more frequent engagement during peak production. Supplier performance should be assessed over time rather than judged by one audit date.

Transparent reporting also matters. Progress updates should explain achievements, limitations and areas requiring further work without exposing personal information or compromising investigations. For a global produce company, consistent standards provide a foundation, while local implementation recognises different legal systems, labour markets and cultural contexts.

For suppliers, the immediate next step is to complete a risk-mapping workshop that identifies every labour provider, recruitment pathway and worksite in the chain, then assigns a named owner to each priority action.