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...
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... 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
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(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.
Many in the U.S., today, try to eat well,balanced, meals to order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. They do so by purchasing their food at farmers markets or making their own meals, so their food isn’t processed or genetically modified. Even though people are trying to maintain health in order to live long lives, without medical complications, many don’t have the opportunity to pursue life like this. In “Research shows food deserts more abundant in minority neighborhoods,” the author, Kelly Brooks, portrays an anecdote and logical reasoning, from Kelly Bower’s research, to thoroughly describe the food deserts in poor minority neighborhoods and how this issue needs to be repaired.
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
A major issue that is occurring in America is a phenomena known as “food deserts”, most are located in urban areas and it's difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food. Whereas in the past, food deserts were thought to be solved with just placing a grocery store in the area, but with times it has become an issue that people are not picking the best nutritional option. This issue is not only making grocery store in food deserts are practically useless and not really eliminating the issue of food deserts because even when they are given a better nutritional option, and people are not taking it. In my perspective, it takes more than a grocery store to eliminate ‘food deserts’. It's more about demonstrating the good of picking the nutritional option and how it can help them and their families. For example, “Those who live in these areas are often subject to poor diets as a result and are at a greater risk of becoming obese or developing chronic diseases.”(Corapi, 2014).
Submerged in the impoverished urban border culture which they helped create, the maquiladoras draw young women north from all over Mexico’s interior. The women migrate with hopes of acquiring jobs in the booming foreign-owned factories and are plunged into a new border “country” that is far from a promised land. Maquiladoras are a financial endeavor for foreign industrialists who hope that by situating factories in Third World countries they will substantially cut production costs. The industrialists have been accused of taking advantage of Mexico’s cheaply accessible labor force and less restrictive health and safety codes in order to achieve these lower production costs. While preliminary surveys on the effects of maquiladora work on women’s physical health show little to no adverse side effects, researchers and advocates are not completely convinced that long term health effects will prove positive.
Because the people who live in food deserts do not get proper supplements of fruits and vegetable, much of their diets are consisted of mainly junk food, fast food, and meats. As a result of this, today, more than one third of adults in America are obese. In addition to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease can also be results of a lack of healthy food choices, which result from people buying their food from convenience stores that only sell processed foods and from fast food restaurants. This paper attempts to provide readers with a better understanding of the fact that not only do food deserts exists, they are threatening the lives of Amer...
Moving factories overseas did create some low paying jobs in Mexico, but it also quickly depleted Mexico’s environment. Agriculture companies also gained profit from NAFTA. After the tariff is removed from US-Mexico trade, many US agricultural subsidies exported corn and other grains to Mexico below cost. This quickly drove the rural Mexican farmers out of business, and many farm workers lost their jobs. With no job and income, many workers were forced to immigrate illegally to the United States to find jobs, and many of them end up working on farms again. The farm owners in the US, competing with subsidies in Mexico also have to cut wages and living conditions in order to remain competent. The working and living condition of the farm workers are unbearable, but the migrant workers have no choice. In Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies, author Seth Holmes lived and worked on a farm in Skagit Valley, Washington, experiencing the conditions of the workers first-hand. He said, “I often felt sick to my stomach the night before picking, due to stress about picking the minimum weight. As I picked, my knees continually hurt” (Holmes 88). Holmes thinks this is a result of the unfair trade agreement, and changing the policy could improve the conditions. He says, “Policies that shore up inequalities, like NAFTA and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), must be renegotiated and health reform
Cason, Katherine L, Snyder, Anastasia & Jensen, Leif. (2004). The health and nutrition of hispanic migrant and seasonal farm workers, The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, 5-17
Perceptions have changed today for the worse. In Washington state, there is a constant influx of migrant workers who are clashing with parents and society. Traditional values with Castilian roots encourage large families early-on.
Weigel, M. M. and R. X. Armijos (2011). "Exploratory Study of the Occupational Health and Health-Seeking of Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers on the U.S.-Mexico Border." J Immigr Minor Health.
Eating nutritious food may seem simple enough, but to those that hardly get by financially, affording healthy foods can be a major hindrance. This is proven by Dr. Jim Levine, a researcher with a concentration of the link between poverty and obesity. He is quoted stating, “In many poverty-dense regions, people are… unable to access affordable healthy food, even when funds avail.” (Sifferlin 1) For example, further studies show that the average cost of salad is $1.50 more than the average cost of a hamburger. Getting vitamins and minerals from the food we eat is substantial to survive in everyday life. Annually, it costs five hundred and fifty dollars more to eat healthier. Five hundred and fifty dollars may not seem like much, but to those that have low income, it is a crucial amount. While achieving a healthy diet proves to be necessary to maintain a healthy weight, it is almost inaccessible for those with low income. Low-income individuals confront the barrier of the cost of healthier choices in their everyday
Most people do not spend their days wondering where their next meal is going to come from, but as the economic situation gets worse and jobs get harder to find it is becoming an every occurring issue in the United States today. Not only will some of us have to worry about with what money will we buy our food, but now we will all start having to worry about where our food is coming from and is it safe for us to consume. We are moving toward a safer tomorrow every day by regulating certain parts of our food supply system. No matter how long it takes, it is clear that there is always opportunity for improvement in making our Nation healthier and safer.
As people immigrated to the United States, legally and illegally, particularly Hispanic workers, they began to look for jobs to provide for their families. They took jobs that Americans did not want: they accepted the low-paying, physically-demanding, and temporal agriculture jobs. Since many did not speak English and were uneducated, some even illiterate, they were easy targets for farm owners to exploit. Immigrant workers were often not paid, had low wages, and because of such conditions, some even died. In addition, they also lived and worked in appalling conditions, some workplaces did not even have suitab...
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
Our current system of corporate-dominated, industrial-style farming might not resemble the old-fashioned farms of yore, but the modern method of raising food has been a surprisingly long time in the making. That's one of the astonishing revelations found in Christopher D. Cook's "Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis" (2004, 2006, The New Press), which explores in great detail the often unappealing, yet largely unseen, underbelly of today's food production and processing machine. While some of the material will be familiar to those who've read Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" or Eric Schlosser's "Fast-Food Nation," Cook's work provides many new insights for anyone who's concerned about how and what we eat,
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