The Affordable Care Act's Prognosis for Farmworkers

Cross-posted with the North Carolina Council of Churches

Every day, about 243 agricultural workers suffer injuries that cost them work time; about five percent of these injuries result in permanent impairment. Agriculture consistently ranks among the three most hazardous industries in the United States. In 2008, the National Safety Council ranked it as the most dangerous industry, and the U.S. Department of Labor reports that children performing farm work are four times more likely to be killed than those employed in all other industries combined.

Nationally, migrant health clinics serve only about 13% of the intended population, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the more than 150,000 farmworkers in North Carolina, less than 20% receive health care. At the same time, the fatality rate for farmworkers statewide is higher than the national average, and nearly 10 times higher than the average state fatality rate for all other occupations.

It is appalling that many of those who harvest our food and contribute to our well-being often work at such personal risk without basic health care. One step in the right direction was the recent announcement of $128.6 million in awards through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which will add about 5,640 doctor, nurse, dental provider and support staff jobs nationally to clinics serving farmworkers and others. The money will go to 219 health centers nationwide, increasing access to more than one million additional patients.

The Supreme Court ruling that upheld the mandate contained within the ACA helped to ensure the continuation of these programs that allocate money to public health care centers. While this decision will benefit many, including some farmworkers, many more will be left behind. According to a detailed analysis by Farmworker Justice, undocumented farmworkers, who make up a majority of the U.S. farmworker population, will only marginally benefit from health reform and will continue to encounter enormous barriers to health care.

Eighty-five percent of farmworkers in the U.S. have no health insurance, and 9 out of 10 children in farmworker families are uninsured. The majority of these workers do not qualify for social services because of their immigration status, even though many live significantly below the federal poverty line.

Because  farmworkers are often impoverished, uninsured, live in isolated areas and move frequently to follow work, many face financial and logistical barriers to receiving health care, says the Texas-based National Center for Farmworker Health. In addition, few health delivery sites have adequate Spanish language resources, including those in North Carolina, where 94% of farmworkers are Spanish-speaking.

Meanwhile, unresolved health problems can limit farmworkers’ ability to maintain productive employment, further perpetuating their position in a vicious cycle. Farmworkers are not protected by sick leave and risk losing their jobs if they miss work. Industry exemptions from rules that protect workers in other sectors and poor enforcement of existing rules leave farmworkers vulnerable and without legal recourse.

Harsh working and living conditions put farmworkers at a high risk for injuries and illness, including work-related lung diseases, noise-induced hearing loss, skin diseases, chemical-related illnesses (such as neurological disorders, miscarriages and birth defects), and certain cancers associated with chemical use and prolonged sun exposure.

Many workers also don’t seek preventative care from physicians for fear of being reported to ICE and consequently being deported. Those who are undocumented often avoid going to locations or institutions where they are made to present identification or where a record of the visit can be documented, which prevents many individuals from seeking proper medical care. Bruce Gould, MD for the University of Connecticut’s mobile Migrant Farm Worker clinic says that sometimes during his visits to camps he finds farmworkers hiding in bushes — they are often desperate for medical care but fear they will be fired if their foreman finds out they are sick.

The American Farm Bureau estimates that without the help of undocumented workers, the agricultural sector of the economy would lose between $5 and $9 billion in flowers, fruits, and vegetables and would cause more than 20% of the production to move overseas. Agriculture is North Carolina’s leading industry, constituting 22% of the state’s income. Eighty-five percent of fruits and vegetables produced in the United States, including those in North Carolina, are harvested by hand.

The help provided by migrant farmworkers is critical for the agriculture sector of the U.S. economy. As Guillermo Noguera, Health Outreach Coordinator in Columbus County, NC said, “Farmworkers feed the world. I think if everybody knows the importance of farmworkers, they will want to keep them healthy.”

All people deserve care. Providing health care to all is not an issue concerning only the patient that is ill; rather, it encompasses a public health dimension, which involves the health of all members of the community. As Margarita, a mother and farmworker in Oxford, NC noted “It’s very important, not just for one person but for the whole community.”

Looking beyond individual health and the economics of the law, will the Supreme Court’s decision reinforce America’s commitment to civil rights and equal opportunity for all – including farmworkers? Or will it reinforce the role of health coverage as a divider between those who will prosper and those who will not?

–Daryn Lane, Student Action With Farmworkers Into The Fields Intern

Harvest of Dignity in Western North Carolina

By Nathan Dollar, Vecinos Inc. 

In Western North Carolina we are intensifying our efforts to raise awareness and get folks involved in issues that affect farmworkers.  In February of this year we held a screening of Harvest of Dignity on the campus of Western Carolina University followed by a discussion on farm labor in our communities. The event was successful with a concerned and enthusiastic crowd of over 100 people in attendance.  This gave us the idea to begin forming an organization based out of WCU focused on farmworker issues – The Western Carolina Coalition for Farmworkers.  While based out of the university it is our vision that this organization be of and for the broader WNC community. 

Here in WNC we have strong communities and we take care of one another.  Building on this strength, it is our goal to foster inclusion and full participation of farmworkers in our communities.  Every member of our community deserves a safe place to work and live.  We hope that together we can make this happen.  The Western Carolina Coalition for Farmworkers is being organized by Vecinos Inc. Farmworker Health Program, Student Action with Farmworkers, WCU students and faculty,  and other community members.  We will be holding another event in September with the date TBA.  If you are interested in learning more and getting more involved, please contact Emily Williams or Osiel Gonzalez Alanis.

Getting Children Out of the Fields

New immigration policies could help undocumented farmworker youth

By Griselda Casillas, Toxic Free NC 2012 Farm Worker Outreach Intern

Last month President Obama announced new deportation policies stating that undocumented immigrants under age 30, who came to the US before age 16, and who are currently in school or have graduated from high school or earned a GED, are not to be deported. Also, those young undocumented immigrants who qualify can apply for two-year work permits that will allow them to work in the United States legally.

This policy change will affect the lives of many young undocumented farmworkers, who often work long hours in the fields of North Carolina in order to feed the nation.  

Agricultural work is classified as one of the three most dangerous occupations in the United States because of the many dangers workers are exposed to that put their lives at risk. Those dangers include constant exposure to pesticides, green tobacco sickness, heat stress, musculoskeletal injuries and many other health problems.

In North Carolina, children are legally permitted to work in the fields at the early age of 12, though recent field investigations have discovered children much younger than 10 filling up buckets of blueberries to help their families make more money in order to put food on their table.

Children are the most vulnerable farm workers because their bodies are still developing.  They have a higher chance of dying from a work-related incident in the fields than an adult. The pesticide exposure they receive comes with short-term effects like nausea, vomiting, cramping and itchy/burning eyes, breathing difficulty, as well as long-term effects such as cancer, miscarriage, memory loss and depression.

Teen farm workers talk about their experiences working around pesticides in the fields of North Carolina. Video courtesy of Toxic Free NC.”

A majority of the time children and adults are not informed about the dangers of pesticide exposure, or their rights in the field. They are not often notified whether the fields have been recently sprayed.  Farmworkers, especially youth, may not have been told what procedures they should follow to protect themselves, or what to do if they get sick from exposure to pesticides.    

On top of that, many undocumented children and teenagers have limited access to medical care.  This means that if they are injured or become ill on the job, they’re less likely than other children to receive proper treatment and care.

Due to work-related illness, family stress and sheer exhaustion, farmworker children are also more likely to perform poorly in school and are at greater risk of dropping out of school.  Many undocumented farm worker youth lose motivation to complete high school when they learn that it will likely be impossible for them to go on to college.

The Obama administration’s new deportation policy enacted last week will help young undocumented immigrants, including those who work in the field, to find jobs that don’t put their lives at risk. The two-year work permits will allow many farmworker youth to seek jobs that typically require proof of citizenship or residency, for the first time in their lives. Under this policy, undocumented youth will also be able to apply for drivers’ licenses and other types of documentation that are currently unavailable to them.

This policy will help young farmworkers to improve their lives in several concrete ways. They can get out of field work and seek jobs in other occupations that don’t expose them to pesticides, extreme heat, heavy lifting and harmful repetitive motion stress. They can seek higher paying jobs that will allow them to provide meaningful help to their families and save money for college, breaking the cycle of poverty.

With the possibility of legal residency, youth will be encouraged to perform better in school and pursue a college education after high school.

Perhaps most importantly, though, the implementation of this policy will mean that undocumented farmworker youth no longer have to live in fear, and that’s a very welcome change.

For Young Farmworkers, No Time for Homework

cross-posted with the North Carolina Council of Churches

At a farmworker camp this past week, sitting on the ground with a plate of rice and tortillas in my lap, I glanced around at the faces of my dinner companions. We were about to begin our theater group’s inaugural performance as a part of Student Action With Farmworkers’ Into The Fields summer internship. During the skit I witnessed the workers’ tired faces dissolve into laughter and recognized that many of these jubilant smiles belonged to young men -- aged far beyond their years due to long days of hard work in the fields.

I was reminded of a bus ride in Guatemala, and the seat I shared with a man who told me his story: how he migrates seasonally with his father and brother to work on farms in Canada. When he asked how old I thought he was, I guessed early thirties. “Twenty-one,” he said. I was stunned. Long after I stood on the curb squinting after the brightly-painted school bus receding into the distance, I thought about the man’s lost youth--a year younger than I--and how he hadn’t had the opportunity to continue his education or pursue other goals.

President Obama’s recent memo to stop deporting young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. before they were 16 and have graduated from high school is a stride in the right direction. But think of all the children and youth working in the fields who will never even set foot in a high school, and who therefore do not qualify for this exemption. According to data compiled by the National Farmworker Ministry, only ten percent of adult farmworkers surveyed have graduated high school and eighty percent of adult migrant farmworkers function at or below the 5th grade level.

U.S. law sets 12 as the minimum age for farm work, not 16 as is standard for all other industries. Furthermore, while children in other sectors are not permitted to work more than three hours a day during the school year, there are no limits to how many hours children can work in agriculture (NCC). A report from the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) found that children work in the fields for thirty hours per week on average, often during the school year. The same federal laws that prohibit a 13-year-old from working in an air-conditioned office, still allow that same child to work in 100-degree heat in a strawberry field.

As one Guatemalan youth in Morganton, North Carolina, said, “If we don’t work, we don’t eat. That’s why we don’t go to school.” Although many obstacles lie between migrant children and formal education, the primary barrier is work--magnified by lack of job security and the fact that farmworkers receive the lowest annual family incomes of any U.S. wage and salary workers.

It’s hard for children to stay in school because their personal and familial choices are limited. When these “decisions” become a matter of survival, the short term implications -- money for their next meal -- become more urgent than the long-term consequences of dropping out of school. Even if a child is able to continue his or her schooling while working only part-time in the fields, “[One] study found that students who work more than 20 hours a week were less likely to do homework, earn A’s, or take college preparatory courses.”

Children in the Fields from Media Voices on Vimeo.

Just this past April, under pressure from farm groups and agribusiness, the U.S. Department of Labor dropped proposed changes in safety regulations that would have prevented children from working in dangerous conditions on farms owned by anyone except for their parents. In response to this disappointing move by the Obama administration, Norma Flores Lopez, Director of the Children in the Fields Campaign at AFOP said:

“Farm work for many children is not a vocation. For the children of farmworkers, whose lives will continue to be put in jeopardy to harvest America’s food, this is not an educational experience to prepare them to own their own farm one day. They are left exposed and unprotected through this move to withdraw the safety rules for children employed in agriculture.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), agriculture is the most dangerous industry for young workers in the United States. For children, risk of injury and chemical poisoning is higher, because their bodies and minds are still growing.

Overall, lack of education for farmworker adults and barriers to accessing education for farmworker children leaves families with no hope for a better life. Those who work hard to feed the country deserve a dignified life, whether they want to continue working in the fields, going to school, or both.

At the farmworker camp in Benson, I wondered whether or not the gangly thirteen-year old kid with the big smile on his face attends school and what his fate will be in another year. I remembered the man’s face in Guatemala, wrinkled before his time, and felt the bus pull away like a rug pulled out from beneath our feet. I felt as though I was witnessing lost potential and trampled dreams.

--Daryn Lane, Student Action With Farmworkers Into The Fields Intern

Watch more short documentaries on child labor in our fields:

• Overworked and Under Spray | Toxic Free NC
• Fingers To The Bone: Child Farmworkers in the United States | Human Rights Watch

Farm Bill Amendments Would Cut SNAP; Disproportionately Affect Latino Children

cross-posted with the North Carolina Council of Churches

Last week, while senators in Washington indicated their overwhelming support for the Farm Bill through a preliminary floor vote, farmworker families throughout the Southeastern U.S. toiled long hours in the summer heat. After 14-hour days in the fields, many farmworkers return home pesticide-ridden, underpaid and empty-handed — financially unable to provide adequate food for themselves and the hungry mouths that await them.

What many don’t know about the hotly-debated “Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012,” commonly referred to as the Farm Bill, is that more than 80% of the bill’s funding goes to nutritional programs. One such program is SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps). This bill would slash $4.5 billion in funding from SNAP over the next ten years.

SNAP has faced a bad rap in recent years, but Dottie Rosenbaum, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, thinks much of the criticism has been exaggerated: “In my view, one of the biggest myths is the claim that some people make that SNAP is growing out of control and is contributing in a substantive way to the deficit,” she says. “To the extent it is growing, it’s for reasons that we very much understand — it’s about addressing the needs of people in a bad economy.”[1]

According to the Congressional Budget Office, this cut would result in an estimated $90 less a month on average for groceries for those families who are in need of assistance.[2]

What’s not being said is how these cuts, combined with a recent amendment to the bill, would impact farmworker families in particular. The amendment, proposed by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, would require that every person in a household show proof of citizenship before anyone in the home applies for SNAP.[3]

This means that if just one member of a household does not have proper identification, no one in the family is eligible for SNAP.

Both multigenerational families living under one roof and Latinos in mixed status families–those including a parent who is undocumented or  is a legal permanent resident but not yet eligible for benefits — would suffer. This would inordinately affect Latino children who would otherwise be eligible for the program but more than half of whom have at least one immigrant parent.

During an interview with MSNBC’s Al Sharpton on Thursday evening, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) argued against Sen. Sessions’ amendment, referring to the first book of the New Testament: “In Matthew 25, the first question Christ asks on Judgement Day is, ‘Did you feed the poor?’ It’s unacceptable that we have Republican advocates who are saying it’s immoral to support food stamps.”[4]

Flashback to North Carolina: A recent article from Toxic Free NC notes that “according to recent data, nearly half of farmworker families in NC don’t have enough food to put on the table. It’s no wonder. Most farm workers are exempt from minimum wage laws, and all are exempt from overtime pay. Typical pay for harvesting sweet potatoes in NC is 40¢ per bucket, which means that a worker has to pick and haul two tons of sweet potatoes, bucket by bucket, to earn just $50.”[5]

At a time when we should be investing in nourishing our youth, Washington is threatening to strip away many children’s only means to a meal. When we should be investing in improving access to programs like SNAP, Congress is on its way to turning more kids away hungry, adding an estimated 4.5 million Latino children alone to the already 16 million children who are at risk of hunger in the U.S.

Sen. Sessions’ proposed amendment to the Farm Bill is just the latest in a string of political and economic policies that have reduced food security among farmworker families.

According to a report issued by the Food Chain Workers Alliance released the day following the Senate’s preliminary floor vote, “More than 86 percent of workers reported earning subminimum, poverty, and low wages, resulting in a sad irony: food workers face higher levels of food insecurity, or the inability to afford to eat, than the rest of the U.S. workforce.”[6]

And as César Chávez pointed out decades ago, “It is ironic that those who till the soil, cultivate and harvest the fruits, vegetables, and other foods that fill your tables with abundance have nothing left for themselves.”

Senators are expected to cast their final votes on the Farm Bill and pending amendments next week.

TAKE ACTION against the amendment which attempts to deny an estimated 4.5 million Latino children access to food stamps, follow the link below:

“16 Million Hungry Children in America is Apparently Not Enough” | NCLR

To access the new report highlighting farmworker food insecurities as a PDF, click the links below or refer to the article to request hard copies:

• “The Hands That Feed Us: Challenges and Opportunities For Workers Along The Food Chain.” | The Food Chain Workers Alliance | full report
• Executive summary
• Executive summary en español

For articles and more information related to the Farm Bill, check out these links below:

• "Sessions Amendment Would Deny Supplemental Nutrition Assistance to Millions of Citizen Children" | NILC | June 12, 2012
• “Why The Farm Bill’s Provisions Will Matter To You” | NPR | June 13, 2012
• “Big Cuts to Food Stamps Loom in Farm Bill, but Gillibrand Vows Fight” | US News and World Report | June 7,  2012
• “Kirsten Gillibrand Fires Back At Jeff Sessions’ Food Stamp Argument” | The Huffington Post | June 14, 2012

– Daryn Lane, Student Action With Farmworkers Intern

[1] Neuman, Scott. “Why The Farm Bill’s Provisions Will Matter To You.” NPR. NPR, 13 June 2012. Web. 14 June 2012.

[2] Fox, Lauren. “Big Cuts to Food Stamps Loom in Farm Bill, But Gillibrand Vows Fight.” US News. U.S. News & World Report, 07 June 2012. Web. 15 June 2012. <http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/06/07/big-cuts-to-food-stamps-loom-in-farm-bill-but-gillibrand-vows-fight>.

[3] Elba Arroyo, Liany. “Latino Children Shouldn’t Be A Political Piñata.” Web log post. National Council of La Raza. National Council of La Raza, 13 June 2012. Web. 14 June 2012. <http://www.nclr.org/index.php/about_us/news/blog/latino_children_shouldnt_be_a_political_pinata/>.

[4] Reilly, Mollie. “The Huffington Post.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 June 2012. Web. 15 June 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/14/kirsten-gillibrand-jeff-sessions-food-stamps_n_1598631.html>.

[5] Duncan Pardo, Ana. “Foodies For Dignity: How You Can Honor Farmworkers This Harvest Season.” Web log post. Toxic Free NC. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 June 2012. <http://www.toxicfreenc.org/informed/winter10/foodiesfordignity.html>.

[6] The Hands That Feed Us: Challenges and Opportunities for Workers Along the Food Chain. Rep. Farmworker Advocacy Network, 8 June 2012. Web. http://www.ncfan.org/research/2012/6/8/the-hands-that-feed-us-challenges-and-opportunities-for-work.html.

Update on Tuesday, June 19, 2012 at 3:28PM by Daryn Lane

URGENT UPDATE: Today, the Senate will begin voting on vital amendments to the Farm Bill. Urgent calls are needed to tell make sure we have a farm bill that works for all of America's people, for the environment and for family farmers and not corporate agribusiness and insurance companies.

Click here to tell your Senators to support a healthy farm bill, not one that marginalizes Latino children and their families.

Tell your Senators to support these amendments (compiled by Food Democracy Now! and its allies):

• Gillibrand Amendment No. 2156 Restores funding for vital nutrition programs and limits excessive payments to crop insurance companies.
• Chambliss Amendment No. 2438.  Links the receipt of federally subsidized crop insurance to basic conservation requirements.   
• Durbin-Coburn Amendment No. 2439 Limits the amount of insurance subsidies for the wealthiest farmers. 
• Merkley Amendment No. 2382 Creates an organic crop insurance program that offers organic farmers. 
• Sanders Amendment No. 2310 Allows states to label genetically engineered foods.
• Brown Amendment No. 2445 Provides mandatory funding for Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development.

and tell them to vote AGAINST:

• Sen. Jeff Sessions Amendment strips access to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps) from citizen children of undocumented immigrants. Moreover, everyone applying for SNAP benefits would be required to show proof of legal status, meaning that thousands of citizens who cannot readily furnish their original birth certificate would also be left without food assistance.

For Readers Who Can Perform Miracles

Guest blog post by April Simon

I am rarely at a loss for words. In four years of sharing farmworker justice with children, I have never been faced with a question that I could not immediately answer, or quickly find information on. Presenting to a particular fourth-grade class this spring, I found myself in a unique position.

“Is there a book we can get for our class, so we can study more?”

There is no shortage of literature on migrant and agricultural workers in the United States. Much of this is geared toward adults and, at the risk of offending authors and researchers, often rather dry and pedantic. Not exactly kid-friendly.

With a handful of exceptions, books geared toward children focus on Cesar Chavez. While it is indisputable that the man and his work were of monumental importance to the movement, there is so much more to the story.

I explained this to the class, and made a few suggestions (my favorites, Amelia’s Road, by Linda Jacobs Altman and Gathering the Sun, by Alma Flor Ada). They were, unsurprisingly, not satisfied with that. Youth are interested in the now, what is happening today, and how they can get involved.

“Why don’t you write a book?”

This is where they stumped me. I had, in fact, often ruminated on writing a book to accompany the curriculums I developed for pre-K through sixth grades. Though there was clearly a need, there never seemed enough time, and I wondered if there was even a real interest. The fourth graders were telling me loud and clear that there is- and they wanted to know why I wasn’t doing anything about it.

At home that night, I couldn’t shake the idea. The seed they planted stuck hard. After years of going out and telling kids that they can go out and make a real difference in the world with whatever talents they possess- they had finally turned  the tables on me. It was my turn to act.

My degrees are in Child Development and Spanish, with a minor in English writing. My curriculum has been presented to every age group from three-year-olds through the aging Rotary Club set. Who better, I was forced to ask myself, to tackle this task?

“I don’t want to write for adults. I want to write for readers who can perform miracles. Only children perform miracles when they read.” —Astrid Lindgren

There will be two books. One, a picture book geared toward children aged seven and under. This is a day-in-the life story of a worker. The text comes from the account of a man I met a few years ago, and relates life in los campos to his experiences and family in Mexico. For this, I have asked Emily Drakage to collaborate/illustrate. Her experiences, particularly with farmworker youth, and her amazing artistic talent will give a depth and sincerity often lacking in literature for the very young.

The second will be for grades 2 through 6. It will include facts, activities, personal stories, and pose questions to the readers to help initiate conversations. There will be a glossary and resource list in the appendix, and possibly an updateable online component for the tech-savvy.

If you would like more information, or are interested in contributing to this project, please contact me (April Simon) at:  alsimoncds@gmail.com.

Worked to Death

As the summer begins to heat up, it’s a good time to remember the people who work outside – especially in the fields. Hot summer days are a mild inconvenience for those with desk jobs, but for those who labor in agriculture, the heat can be a matter of life and death.

Last month, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration kicked off a national outreach initiative to educate workers and their employers about the hazards of working outdoors in the heat and steps needed to prevent heat-related illnesses. The initiative includes new training materials in Spanish and a smartphone app that workers and employers can use to monitor the heat index.

“For outdoor workers, 'water, rest and shade' are three words that can make the difference between life and death," Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said. "If employers take reasonable precautions, and look out for their workers, we can beat the heat."

Each year, thousands of outdoor workers experience serious illnesses such as heat exhaustion. For 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 4,190 workers suffered from heat illness and 40 died from heat stroke and related causes on the job. Although outdoor workers in a variety of industries are susceptible to heat illness, those in construction and agriculture are the most vulnerable.

Bringing It Home

In North Carolina, heat stroke killed seven farmworkers within a recent five-year period. One of those workers was Juan Jose Soriano, who died of heat stroke while harvesting tobacco in Wayne County on August 1, 2006.

The NC Department of Labor (NCDOL) investigation found that “the employer did not furnish to each of his employees conditions of employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees, in that employees were exposed to heat-related hazards without adequate provisions to protect them.”

The investigation also found that “12 migrant farmworkers were exposed to heat indices of 105-110 degrees without the opportunity to adequately hydrate or cool down” and that subsequently one worker died of hyperthermia. The grower has contested the findings and the proposed penalty of $2100. The Workers’ Compensation claim is currently denied by the grower’s insurance carrier. At the time of death, Juan Jose Soriano had 5 children, 3 under the age of 18.

Every farmworker should have access to clean water, breaks and shade when the temperature gets too hot. No one should be worked to death in our fields.

Get involved in the Harvest of Dignity campaign today.

U.S Department of Labor Keeps Children in Harm’s Way

By Emily Drakage, NC Regional Coordinator, Children in the Fields Campaign - Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs

This spring North Carolinians are enjoying their local farmers markets as they begin to overflow with a myriad of fresh fruits and vegetables planted and harvested here in the state. Joy can be found on the faces of folks as they purchase a rainbow of delectable and affordable produce. Springtime for migrant and seasonal farmworker children in North Carolina, carries an entirely different implication. Many of these children must labor 40+ hours a week in the fields to help their families get by.  They are subjected to unsanitary, hazardous, and back-breaking labor conditions. It seems surreal for a state with an over-abundance of agricultural revenue to have child labor tangled up within it. 

Meanwhile, agriculture continues to be the most dangerous industry for children to work in.  In fact, three-quarters of the children under age 16 who died while working for wages in 2010 were killed while working on farms according to the Bureau of Labor statistics. The Department of Labor recently proposed safety updates to the rules governing child labor in agriculture—it would have been the first change in 41 years.

The updates were common sense changes to protect farmworker children from known dangers and would still have allowed children to perform any type of task on their parents’ farm, at any age. This is an exemption secured through the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which is statutory and therefore cannot be changed by a federal agency. Members of Congress also introduced legislation in the House and Senate to block the implementation of the protections called, "Preserving America's Family Farm Act."  Even after advocacy groups held a press conference with a panel of experts from the education, health and agriculture communities to dispel the misinformation surrounding the proposed rules, the Obama administration in the end conceded to the large and misguided outcry from the opposition.   

Throughout the summer let us not forget the farmworker children who sacrifice their childhood, health, and wellbeing to bring us the fruits of their labor at what appears to be a “low cost.”   

For more information, click here: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/the-administration/225809-labor-department-abandons-child-farmworkers.