The People -- and the Shame -- Behind Our Food

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gavin-new ... 49979.html

Our current culture has an unprecedented awareness of food and its source. Organic, locavore, sustainable, free-range, farm-raised: these have all become household terms.

We may carefully inspect the food we buy for certain ingredients or where it comes from, but we're still not getting the full story.

Let's ask ourselves why we are so aware of what we eat, yet so unaware of the abuse that California's 500,000 farm workers endure.

Ya know Justin, I was all set to cock off with one of my patented tongue in cheek - poor attempt at humor replies and then I read the article. I've had my "union card" for so long it's yellowed and a little tattered around the edges (25 years)...but because it rides in my pocket everyday I find myself wondering how we can put up with this kind of crap in the name of saving a dime on a head of lettuce. Thanks for posting.

No problem. It amazes me how little I really know about what is going on in this "free" country.

Anne and I worked on a tree nursery near Mt Rainer in Washington state. The nursery bordered a strawberry farm that picked mainly for the packaged frozen berry market. It was not uncommon to see to see the spray rigs(big spray boom tractors) come right over the field with the migrants still working ,and spray chemicals over top of them. The would pull a shirt or bandanna over their face and just keep picking. Also unsettling to know this farm was putting freshly sprayed product out into the food stream.

Great post Justin. We need to keep in mind this isn't just limited to the food industry.

Hmmm, at the risk of sounding insensitive, we are talking about four or five deaths a year out of who knows how many hundreds of thousands employed. The article says there have been more deaths in the last few years than in many decades. I find this hard to believe. Four or five a year is more than back in Chavez's day in the 60's? Doesn't pass the smell test. Obviously it's an inherently risky occupation. We plant, tend and harvest´our food when the sun is shining the most. Personally I'm surprised the number is so small.

I suspect if you factor in the poor healthcare backgrounds of Mexican migrant workers, the numbers probably aren't remarkable when compared to roofers, welders, coalminers, oilfield workers, and anyone else who toils in the hot sun. Certainly we have a lot more student athletes who drop dead of heat stroke than Ag workers every year. So calling it some kind of national "shame" seems a bit overwrought to me.

Hmmm, at the risk of sounding insensitive, we are talking about four or five deaths a year out of who knows how many hundreds of thousands employed. The article says there have been more deaths in the last few years than in many decades.

Where did the 4 or 5 deaths a year stat come from?

They live in squalor among us, suffering from sexual harassment, inadequate drinking water and housing, lack of shade, and sky-high disease rates.

When farm workers organize, they are threatened with deportation. When they complain to the government, they are so often ignored. When they try to defend themselves, they are fired.

It was not uncommon to see to see the spray rigs(big spray boom tractors) come right over the field with the migrants still working ,and spray chemicals over top of them. The would pull a shirt or bandanna over their face and just keep picking.

Regardless of death totals, the working conditions are shameful.

It certainly didn't come from the article whose intent (it seems to me) was to make us think it is higher. Here's one article from a bit earlier 1992-2006 68 deaths over 15 years.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5724a1.htm

If you Google around other articles indicate similar losses in recent years. Not saying we can't do more. Just trying to put it into some sort of perspective. Given the kind of heat these folks are working in, and for such extended periods, it seems to me that the growers, or the workers themselves are doing a pretty good job of looking after themselves. Mexicans generally know how to deal with heat. You put 100,000 of us pasty white office workers out there and there'd be 50 of us die the first day.

This IS a national shame. Although, an unknown one it still is what it is.

Unless you have actually experienced this firsthand, i do not think anyone can downgrade the severity of what it is. The living conditions are horrific, the working conditions worse. The toll it takes on a family cannot be described. Withdrawing from school early to get to another state when the season comes, returning to school late when the season is over....... then actually add the work that is done by the people that go. It is back-breaking..... literally. You have quotas, you have limited breaks, there seems to be no end in sight. You go to bed at sundown your body wrought with exhaustion, only to repeat the process the next day. Personally, it is close to slave-like conditions.

It certainly didn't come from the article whose intent (it seems to me) was to make us think it is higher. Here's one article from a bit earlier 1992-2006 68 deaths over 15 years.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5724a1.htm

If you Google around other articles indicate similar losses in recent years. Not saying we can't do more. Just trying to put it into some sort of perspective. Given the kind of heat these folks are working in, and for such extended periods, it seems to me that the growers, or the workers themselves are doing a pretty good job of looking after themselves. Mexicans generally know how to deal with heat. You put 100,000 of us pasty white office workers out there and there'd be 50 of us die the first day.

Mexicans generally know how to deal with heat.

I find this offensive.

It certainly didn't come from the article whose intent (it seems to me) was to make us think it is higher. Here's one article from a bit earlier 1992-2006 68 deaths over 15 years.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5724a1.htm

If you Google around other articles indicate similar losses in recent years. Not saying we can't do more. Just trying to put it into some sort of perspective. Given the kind of heat these folks are working in, and for such extended periods, it seems to me that the growers, or the workers themselves are doing a pretty good job of looking after themselves. Mexicans generally know how to deal with heat. You put 100,000 of us pasty white office workers out there and there'd be 50 of us die the first day.

Mexicans generally know how to deal with heat.

I find this offensive.

I also find it offensive, Becky.

You put 100,000 of us pasty white office workers out there and there'd be 50 of us die the first day.

Well, I find THIS offensive.

Becky, I'm not aware of any country on Earth where conditions for cropworkers are any different. Harvesting crops has always, from the dawn of time, been a back-breaking endeavor. Where I live they import Poles and Croats to do what no German will do. The difference now, is that we have foreigners doing what we used to do ourselves.

I broke up a lot of clods and hoe'd a lot of rows as a young man. My family came from "the dirt" so to speak. My Grandfather and Great grandfather spent their lives behind a team of mules. I won't bore you with my work history but suffice it to say I'm familiar with heatstroke on a personal level.

I have no idea why you are offended by my suggestion that Mexicans know how to deal with the heat. To suggest otherwise would be idiotic. Ever been to Mexico? Experienced the tremendous heat there? In a country where air-conditioning is not widespread?

Shhhh, don't tell anybody but....humans who live near the equator are better at dealing with the heat than those who don't. It's a fact. I you don't believe me. Ask an Aleutian.

I also find it offensive, Becky.

It is a perfect example of a stereotypical generalization.

At first, i was a bit bothered, but now i am incensed.

I am going to leave my computer now because i do not want my anger to direct what i respond with here.

I'm going to go use the energy i have from this anger to load my van!