Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
essays on migrant farm workers
essays on migrant farm workers
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: essays on migrant farm workers
More and more health-conscious individuals are scrutinizing the source of the food their family consumes. However, even the most conscientious consumer is not fully aware of the exhaustive efforts and struggle to get a juicy, ripe strawberry or that plump tomato in the middle of winter, even in Florida. These foods are harvested and picked mostly by seasonal and migrant farm workers. Migrant workers hail, in large part, from Mexico and the Caribbean, and their families often travel with them. Migrant farm workers must endure challenging conditions so that Americans can have the beautiful selection of berries, tomatoes, and other fresh foods often found at places like a farmer’s market or a traditional super market. Seasonal and migrant farm workers suffer a variety of health problems as a result of their constant exposure to stress, the elements, and chemicals such as pesticides. They are paid minimal wages and are expected to work long hours of strenuous labor for pennies on the dollar per piece or per hour. The migrant families are expected to live in substandard quarters and transported to various work sites in unsafe transportation. The fresh fruits and vegetables consumers purchase with little thought reach supermarkets at a cost that is not reflected in the retail price. This cost is ultimately absorbed by farm workers in Florida and other areas throughout the country, who are among the poorest of American workers.
The migrant worker community in states like Florida, Texas, and California is often an ‘obscure population’ of the state. They live in isolated communities and have very little stability or permanence. According to the Florida Department of Health, 150,000 to 200,000 migrant workers work in the State of Fl...
... middle of paper ...
... and unsafe. The struggles the migrant farm worker faces are of the most severe of any industry, and yet, they are true to their craft. They always ensure the product they harvest meets the expectations of the American consumer.
Works Cited
(n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2014, from FloridaHealth.gov: http://www.floridahealth.gov/healthy-environments/migrant-farmworker-housing/index.html
(n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2014, from EPA.gov: http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/twor.html
(n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2014, from National Farmworker Ministry: http://nfwm.org/education-center/farm-worker-issues/low-wages/
(n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2014, from Southern Poverty Law Center: http://www.splcenter.org/sexual-violence-against-farmworkers-a-guidebook-for-criminal-justice-professionals/who-are-farmworke
Chiswick, B. R. (2006, June 3). The Worker Next Door. New York Times.
Pictures displayed in grocery stores paint a picture of American farmers harvesting only the freshest production for your consumption. The truth is the majority of our food is from factories, not farms. Assembly line production has lead to human and animal abuse. Industrial food began with fast food restaurants. McDonald’s revolutionized food production by introducing factory like production into their restaurants, this was dubbed “McDonaldization”. Employee’s were viewed as replaceable, treated poorly, and paid low wages. Workers were taught and expected to carry a mentality of conformity. Factory production of food uses people in assembly lines to perform like machines performing the same task over and over. Abuse of migrant workers has also been found in many processing plants, hiring migrant workers for less pay and more dangerous jobs is common. Nicknamed “human machines” factory workers in slaughter houses, meat packing plants, and processing plants are required to perform repetitive motions more a meager pay, stripping them of their identity as humans. Workers are abused and used until they can no longer perform their duties and they are let go and replaced. Another reason migrant workers are often used is because they simply won't complain. Big companies seek workers from Mexico to come work in their plants because they know migrant workers are here illegally and will not
Tomatoland is a book written by Barry Estabrook, an investigative food journalist. Throughout the pages of Tomatoland, Estabrook explores the path of tomatoes, from the seed in South America to the hands of migrant workers in the fields of Florida. Through his exploration he discovers several issues that exist within the fresh tomato industry in Florida. Two of the major issues that he discovers include the use of highly toxic chemicals that cause severe damage to the health of humans and the environment, and the exploitation of migrant workers. Estabrook directly blames the continuation of such issues on those who support the tomato industry, “it’s a world we’ve all made, and one we can fix”; this includes consumers, crew bosses, the government and the corporate farm owners, like the executives and those who work in the business side of farming. Although there are many who are at fault, Estabrook directs his blame more towards the government and the farms corporate owners. Estabrook’s assessment of blame is substantial because the government and owners of the tomato corporations are the ones who have the strongest power towards regulations and production.
As Americans become more health conscious, their consumption of fruits and vegetables is increased at astronomical levels. Since migrant farm workers are responsible for picking the majority of these products, the eating habits of Americans perpetuate the very farm labor market conditions that many people would like to put an end to. Therefore, whether knowingly or not, Americans are exploiting these Migrant workers who are paid less then minimum wage, have no power to bargain with their employers, and have inadequate and unacceptable living accommodations. In New England, the harvest of blueberries and apples are crucial to the economy, and are in abundant supply. Those who pick these fruits travel across the country, and often across international boarders to fill agricultural jobs that U.S. citizens are not willing to take. Both blueberries and apples are extremely difficult crops to harvest, and require extensive manual labor. Migrant workers are willing to fill these physically exhausting positions because of economic hardships, and the lack of jobs in their own countries.
Looking back at the role tomatoes plays in our daily lives we see that the financial survival of the indigenous migrants of Mexico is tied to the vegetable farms of the United States and Mexico. Their lack of local employment leads to an endless cycle of poverty and pain for them and their children as migrant pickers. As producer, packer and supplier A&W provides the logistics from field to market for total accountability of product quality and cost. We have seen that the tomatoes represent not only an important cash commodity for farmers and retailers, but it’s also one of the most important food staple in our daily meals. The tomato farms of Mexico provides much needed employment for the migrant pickers as well as health issues, low wages, discrimination and poverty.
The Mexican Migrant Farm Workers’ community formed in Southern California in the 20th century because of two factors that came together: farming emphasized by migrations like the Okie farmers from the East and Mexicans “imported” to the U.S. because of the need for cheap labor as a replacement of Americans during World War II. The migrant labor group formed after an already similar group in the U.S had been established in California, the American farm workers from the East, known as the Okies. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s caused the movement of the Okies to the West and was followed by the transition from American dominant farm labor to Mexican migrant labor. The Okies reinforced farming in California through the skills they took with them, significant to the time period that Mexicans arrived to California in greater numbers. However, the community was heightened by World War II from 1939 to 1945, which brought in immigrants to replace Americans that left to fight in the battlefields. Robin A. Fanslow, archivist at the Library of Congress, argues that because of World War II, “those who were left behind took advantage of the job opportunities that had become available in [the] West Coast” (Fanslow). Although some Mexican migrants already lived in the U.S prior to this event, a vast majority arrived at the fields of California specifically to work as farmers through the Bracero Program, created because of the Second World War. Why the Second World War and not the First World War? WWII urgently demanded labor and Mexico was the United States’ closest resource. Although WWI also caused the U.S. to have a shortage of labor; at the time, other minorities dominated, like the Chinese and Japanese.
...of the migrant farm workers in the United States. Some opponents of the WIC program and its benefits believe that WIC is not doing enough to help this group. The policies in place and special provisions of the WIC program for migrant farm workers is an asset for the migrant farm worker community and has been proven beneficial in reducing nutritional and health risks for the eligible participants. The continued exposure and improvement of the implementation by each state will continue to increase the number of people aided by this program.
The migrant tomato farm workers article discusses the aspect of being one of the nations most backbreaking jobs. These tomato workers work for 10 to 12 hours a day picking tomatoes by hand, earning a piece-rate of about 45 cents for every 32-pound bucket. Furthermore a typical day each migrant picks, carries and unloads two tons of tomatoes, and instead of trying to move forward and improve the quality of work and pay the tomato growers keep migrant workers pay as low as possible. The reason behind it is the pressure the tomato growers face for keeping their operation cost low. Although some of the pressure has come from increased competition with Mexican growers, most of it has been forcefully applied by the largest purchaser of Florida tomatoes the American fast food chains.
Although agriculture is one of the most hazardous jobs in the United States, there is a huge gap in healthcare for those that work in the industry. Due to the large migrant and seasonal worker population, especially those from Mexico, it is a hard population to reach when it comes to healthcare needs. Fear, language barriers and cultural norms are all barriers that need to be addressed for this special population. “(Holmes 2011) Agriculture is one of the most hazardous occupations in the United States. In 2000, there were 780 deaths and 130,000 disabling injuries in agriculture. The only industry that had more deaths was construction, with 1,220.”(Hansen and Donohoe 2003) “Migrant workers face numerous barriers to medical care, including lack of transportation, insurance, and sick leave, the threat or fear of wage or job loss, language barriers between MSFWs and health care providers, and limited clinic hours.”(Hansen and Donohoe 2003) Traumatic injuries, food insecurity, infectious disease, chemical and pesticide related illness, dermatitis, dental, heat stress, respiratory conditions, musculoskeletal disorders, and reproductive health are just some of the issues that migrant farm workers face. (Hansen and Donohoe 2003; Wang, Myers et al. 2011; Weigel and Armijos 2011)
The understanding of IPV and the Hispanic/Latino population is unfortunately limited, and becomes more limited in its ability to understand the experiences of Latina subgroups such as seasonal migrant workers. Immigration is accompanied by numerous stresses and challenges that may increase the ris...
This concedes that now America is creating health issues from consuming unhealthy foods. According to, “The battle against fast food beings in the home”, by Daniel Weintraub, “Kids eat unhealthy food and sit in front of the television or computer for hours at a time”. The article states that now obesity has affected many kids in America. Due to obesity affecting many kids in America the argument here is that, parents are not thinking about their child’s health and how it affects their body. Their main worry if the food is cheap and that it’s reasonable to buy for their family; which is understandable. Thus, many kids health are in danger from the lack of a nutritious diet. At the same time, fast food companies believe that it’s not their fault. According to Daniels Weintraub’s article, it states that “ It’s the parents, not the government, not the fast food companies who are responsible for teaching kids unhealthy habits” (Weintraub 1). The argument here is that parents need to try to feed their kids much healthier diets such as vegetables. Feeding them fast food is going to wreck their health. For this reason, fast food companies should try to sell healthier food for a reasonable price. Having produce companies sell more affordable fruits and vegetables will clear this problem. This will allow people who don’t have much money be able to provide a healthy dish
Farm workers today receive a tiny percentage of the retail price of the crops they produce. Mentioned during an article by Tim Redmond, a survey of 120,000 migrant farm workers was conducted in 2008 by a demographer named Rick Mines. He found that one third of the workers earned above the minimum wage, one third reported earning exactly the minimum and one third reported earning below the minimum wage. Growers are potentially paying an illegal wage and ten of thousand farm workers today still face the ongoing difficulties which occurred 80 plus years
Since there has been a US/Mexican border, Mexicans have always played a role in the migrant experience. But it was never able to reach a noticeable amount until the beginning of the 20th century. During the second World War, the United States had experienced a tremendous labor shortage due to its economic and military role. With the bulk of its traditionally male industrial and agricultural workforce fighting abroad, the United States was in dire need of a replacement. Realizing that Mexico could provide a large and cheap workforce, the United States signed several economic agreements with the Mexican government to allow Mexicans legal access to U.S jobs. With foreign worker programs, such as the Bracero program being easily available, Mexicans
Many of the farmers are mexican immigrants that are only trying to support their families. WNYC news published an article titled “Immigrant Farm Workers, the Hidden Part of New York’s Local Food Movement” that said, “ The reality of agriculture is that a hefty percentage of the people who plant and harvest New York’s local food are immigrant workers, many of whom put themselves in danger to cross the border into the United States to work the land.” though they come here they are not treated as well as they expected. One of the workers Antonio Valeriano that works at a farm in hudson valley originally from oaxaca said he has to be at work at 6 A.M to 8 at night or even to 10 P.M. Valeriano another worker said, “the work is hard, ‘and we almost never rest,’” though they have a
United States and Canada are mainly made up with diversity cultures. With the increase population of the migrant works and the obvious problems show up, policies and solutions have to be take in place as soon as possible. First of all, migrant workers need to organize together to form their own unions to speak out their voice and be heard by the employers, individual is limited, but community is huge, they should work together and maser more knowledge to protect their rights and benefits. Secondly, for the government, it is useful to build a platform for them to accept education and improver personal skills, which will not only benefit themselves, but also increase the company’s productivity. Last but not the least, government should come up
We live in an age in which we have come to expect everything to be instantaneously at our fingertips. We live in an age of instant coffee, instant tea, and even instant mashed potatoes. We can walk down the street at 5 in the morning and get a gallon of milk or even a weeks worth of groceries at our discretion. Even though it is great that food is now readily available at all times, this convenience comes at a price, for both the producer and the consumer. Farmers are cheated out of money and are slaves to big business, workers and animals are mistreated. And, because food now comes at a low cost, it has become cheaper quality and therefore potentially dangerous to the consumer’s health. These problems surrounding the ethics and the procedures of the instantaneous food system are left unchanged due to the obliviousness of the consumers and the dollar signs in the eyes of the government and big business. The problem begins with the mistreatment and exploitation of farmers.