In the last blog post I exposed some facts I learned from the documentary “Food Chains” regarding racism in the growing and harvesting of produce. Here is a review of the basics:

• Most farm workers are foreigners, and most of those foreigners are Mexican.[1]
• Farm workers work long days make an average of $40 per day for picking 40,000 lbs of tomatoes on tomato farms in Florida.
• “An average farmworker earns about $12,000 a year providing the goods that enable large retailers to make billions in annual profits.”[2]
• Women who work are often sexually exploited and abused either by other workers or by those in charge.2

The comments I received on that post expressed surprise and discomfort at these customs that occur just so we can have fresh fruits and vegetables in the local supermarket all year. Let’s look deeper into these issues before closing with small changes that are taking place to change the system for the better.

These problems do not only occur in the produce industry. The meat industry is well known for its dangerous work, unsanitary environment, and high turnover of employees. Once again many of these employees are immigrants, people of color, and/or undocumented.[3] They must perform dangerous tasks and injuries, even serious ones, are often ignored, dismissed, or treated slowly.[4] Though meatpacking work was once a relatively well-paid and unionized job, since the 1960’s the meat industry has increasingly hired more immigrant and low-income workers from rural areas, centralized and de-unionized, and yielded growing turnover rates.4

Unlike the tomato farmers, slaughterhouse workers are generally paid by the hour, approximately $12-$13 depending on the job.[5] Though that may sound like a decent wage to many of us teenagers, it is not enough to support a family. These workers’ annual incomes range from $23,000 to $28,000. For perspective $24,250 is the Federal Poverty Level for a family of four, what many would consider an average, standard, typical family size.[6] These workers are making barely enough to support a family, and though the technical poverty lines are set at specific numbers, that doesn’t mean that making a couple hundred dollars over the poverty level makes life that much better. These incomes make living comfortably and healthily very difficult; their long hours and physical exhaustion and pain make many of the pleasant and comfortable home lives we take for granted hard to attain.

This is where our food comes from. It comes from workers who are underpaid, under-cared-for, and unrepresented. It comes from long hours spent out in the sun or on a slaughterhouse (dis)assembly line. It comes from foreigners and so-called “minority groups” (who are no longer the minorities in some cases) who do not have the characteristic of being a white Caucasian to help them in the racist food system, job market, and socio-economic status determinants.

There is hope, however. The first step is knowledge of the problems, or at least some of them. A recognition of their existence. Then small steps can be taken to move in the right direction. These actions vary. The tomato pickers in Florida went on a hunger strike for a week standing outside of Publix’ headquarters. You can buy your produce from the farmer’s market during the growing season, supporting local farms instead of the broken industrial food system.

One step in the right direction has been the development of the Fair Food Program by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.[7] This program so far is limited only to the tomato industry in Florida, but it has ensured safer, fairer working conditions for the workers of the participating farms. It is a third party monitor that facilitates a partnership between the workers, the farms, and the supermarkets that buy from those farms. Participating stores pay one cent extra per pound, which is passed on to the workers as a bonus. Physical, verbal, and sexual abuse is prohibited, and forced labor is not tolerated. The Fair Food Program also offers opportunities for workers to report any mistreatment without fear of retaliation. If programs like this could expand throughout our entire food production industry, it would not be the end of the story of justice for sure, but it would make the lives of those who provide our food safer and more tolerable. The injustices literally make my stomach turn upside-down as I learn more about them. Maybe this disgust can be turned to action and advocacy for those who provide our sustenance.

 

[1] http://www.ncfh.org/docs/fs-Facts%20about%20Farmworkers.pdf

[2] http://www.foodchainsfilm.com/#the-problem

[3] http://www.foodispower.org/slaughterhouse-workers/

[4] http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2001/07/dangerous-meatpacking-jobs-eric-schlosser

[5] http://work.chron.com/wages-slaughterhouse-workers-22597.html

[6] https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-FPL/

[7] http://www.fairfoodprogram.org/