Overworked & Under Spray: Young Farm Workers' Pesticide Stories

From our friends at Toxic Free NC:

Every summer, the Farm Worker Documentary Project takes Toxic Free NC staff and our Farm Worker Documentary Intern into fields and labor camps across North Carolina. They interview farm workers about their experiences to bring their voices into the conversation about pesticide use in our state.

This year's documentary, Overworked and Under Spray, is a six-minute film that shares stories from young farm workers about resulting health effects from their exposure to pesticides in the fields, with commentary from health outreach and advocacy experts.

With the Farm Worker Documentary Project, we hope to tell a story about the role pesticides play in making agriculture the 3rd most dangerous industry in the US, how our farm workers are affected by pesticide use, and how we can change the way our food is grown.

Click here to find out more about our Farm Worker Documentary Project and what you can do to show your support for NC's farm workers.

New Report Documents Abuses in Agricultural Guest Worker Program

The federal program meant to provide a legal workforce for farmers to harvest crops in the absence of domestic labor has grown rife with abuse and lacks needed protections for the thousands of guest workers laboring to put food on America’s tables, according to a new report released today.

The report by Farmworker Justice offers an in-depth look at the violations and abuses of the federal H-2A agricultural guest worker program, exposing the fundamental flaws of guest worker models and revealing the program’s effect of keeping wages low in the U.S. for both foreign and domestic workers.

North Carolina has more H-2A guest workers than any other state. For North Carolina, which boasts an agricultural industry worth over $2.8 billion, the Department of labor certified 9,387 guest workers, or 95 percent of the applicants.

In “No Way to Treat a Guest: Why the H-2A Agricultural Visa Program Fails U.S. and Foreign Workers,” a report based on interviews with current and former H-2A workers, Farmworker Justice documents the human toll of a system meant to provide a legal and dependable workforce for American farmers. 

“This investigation corroborates the view that the guestworker model and the H-2A program should not be the solution to ensuring a sustainable labor force for American agriculture,” said Farmworker Justice President Bruce Goldstein.  “Stronger protections and enforcement in the H-2A guestworker program are needed but cannot solve the labor abuses that inevitably arise.  America is a nation of immigrants, not a nation of guestworkers.”

The report offers multiple short-term and long-term solutions to eliminate abuses in the H-2A program and ensure a sustainable labor force for American agriculture including:

• Congress should pass the Agricultural Jobs, Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act (AgJOBS).
• The Department of Labor should increase oversight and enforcement of worker protections in the H-2A program.
• The H-2A visa program should be changed to provide workers with the freedom to change employers.
• H-2A workers should be able to earn permanent legal immigration status in order to be able to protect their rights and improve their conditions.

Even during a period of high unemployment and economic recession in the United States, the U.S. Department of Labor has expanded approval of H-2A visas for entering farmworkers by 80 percent from 2005 to 2009.  The five states with the most guest workers (North Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Kentucky and Florida) account for 37 percent of guest worker certification nation-wide. Guest workers make up roughly 10 percent of the agricultural labor force in the United States, between 50 – 70 percent of which is composed of undocumented workers.

For North Carolina, which boasts an agricultural industry worth over $2.8 billion, the Department of labor certified 9, 387 guest workers, or 95 percent of the applicants.

Guest workers “non-immigrant” status deprives them of bargaining power with their employer, which leads employers to prefer guest workers over domestic workers and keeps wages low for both.  Recruitment abuses in the program have lead to cases of debt peonage, human trafficking, forced labor and wage theft.

Download the full report

Spotlight on Child Labor

By Drew Gores, Undergraduate Student, Duke University 

Child labor has entered the spotlight in recent months as two states have introduced bills that would weaken legal protections for child workers. During the spring, Missouri State Senator Jane Cunningham introduced SB222, which aims to reduce the minimum age at which a child may be employed and eliminate restrictions on the number of hours a child is allowed to work. Elsewhere, the Maine state legislature held hearings on a bill which would permit high school students to work for more hours during the week and at later times of night.

Opponents claim that passage of these bills would facilitate the exploitation of child workers. Missing from the national discussion, however, is any mention of the fact that children working in our nation's agricultural industry already face far more harmful working conditions than even those which would be introduced by the Maine and Missouri bills. This issue is of special interest to North Carolinians. Because our state's farms employ about 150,000 farmworkers every year - some of which are children^.  

For the last 70 years, child farmworkers have been excluded from even the minimum federal legislation which protects child workers in other industries. To work at a restaurant, for example, a child must be 16, while children as young as 12 and 13 can work on a farm with parental permission.

This discrepancy in the laws persists despite the fact that the Centers for Disease Control’s National Institute for Occupational Safety Health (NIOSH) has rated the agricultural industry the most dangerous occupation for young workers. Children working in the fields labor long hours in the hot sun. They carry heavy loads and face exposure to toxic pesticides and dangerous machinery. Because they are still growing, child farmworkers are extremely susceptible to illness and trauma as a result of this work.

North Carolinians are taking action to ensure that all children in North Carolina are able to enjoy a safe childhood. Representatives Jordan and Parfitt introduced the Protect Youth/Farm Family Employment Bill, which limits the number of hours that 14- and 15-year-olds can work in our state's fields.

Farm labor is the backbone of North Carolina's agricultural industry, a sector which contributes 70.1 billion dollars to our state's GSP annually. Without strict rules regulating child labor, this industry is profiting as it puts children in harm's way. 

Our Forgotten Neighbors

The Farmworker Advocacy Network worked with Professor Bruce Orenstein's video and social change class at Duke University to create this compelling short documentary about the Harvest of Dignity Campaign. Check it out and pass it along with the social buttons below.

Documentary Film Harvest of Dignity to be featured on PIC.tv

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Bart Evans, Coordinator, Farmworker Advocacy Network
919-660-0704 (o) | 510-366-1604 (c) | bdevans@duke.edu

Documentary Film Harvest of Dignity to be featured on PIC.tv
http://pic.tv/harvest

August 9, 2011, Raleigh, NC — “Most people don’t realize that young kids are picking blueberries for our pies, sweet potatoes for our casseroles and tomatoes for our salads,” said Emily Drakage of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs.  Drakage works with farm worker children and their families. “People should be able to feel confident when they buy North Carolina produce that they’re not enjoying it at the expense of a child’s health and safety.” 

The Farmworker Advocacy Network and One Economy are proud to announce Harvest of Dignity, a new original documentary that provides an in-depth portrait of the people who harvest our food. Harvest of Dignity is exclusively featured online on One Economy’s Public Internet Channel, PIC.tv.

“One Economy’s Public Internet Channel provides online programs that engage, inspire and facilitate action,” said Daniel Fellini, executive producer, One Economy Corporation, “Harvest of Dignity is a film that addresses a relevant issue facing communities and we hope it will be a catalyst for thought, discussion and engagement.” 

The Harvest of Dignity film comes on the 50-year anniversary of the acclaimed 1960 film Harvest of Shame, the last televised documentary by North Carolina-born journalist Edward R. Murrow that led to permanent changes in the laws protecting workers’ rights. The new film, Harvest of Dignity, combines interviews with North Carolina farmworkers, advocates, faith leaders and educators, documentary photos and interviews collected by Student Action with Farmworkers, and clips from the original Harvest of Shame documentary. Highlighting the struggles of farmworker families traveling the eastern migrant stream, the film compares conditions from 50 years ago and today and asks how much has changed.

“The good thing is that I haven’t gotten sick, right, because supposedly in this work many people get sick, from the tobacco and from the pesticides… They don’t tell us, but you can see that they are applying pesticides, or it smells like pesticides afterward. You can smell it when you enter the field, it smells of poison and you realize what is going on. And since the boss speaks English and you speak Spanish, you don’t understand much.”

–NC farmworker, 2010

This film was produced by Minnow Media in collaboration with the Farmworker Advocacy Network and Student Action with Farmworkers. The film is in Spanish and English with subtitles. FAN uses the documentary in its campaign to reform conditions for N.C. field and poultry workers. For more information about the Harvest of Dignity campaign, visit ncfan.org.

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PARA PUBLICACIÓN INMEDIATA

CONTACTO:  Bart Evans, Coordinador, Red de Defensa de Trabajadores Agrícolas

(Farmworker Advocacy Network-FAN)
919-660-0704 (oficina) | 510-366-1604 (celular) | bdevans@duke.edu

El documental Cosecha de dignidad será presentado en PIC.tv
http://pic.tv/harvest

9 de agosto de 2011, Raleigh, NC — “La mayoría de las personas no se dan cuenta que niños pequeños están cosechando arándanos para nuestros postres, camotes para nuestros guisos y tomates para nuestras ensaladas”, comentó Emily Drakage de la Asociación de Programas de Oportunidad para Trabajadores Agrícolas (AFOP). Drakage trabaja con hijos de campesinos y sus familias. “La gente debe sentirse segura de que cuando compra productos alimenticios de Carolina del Norte no es a expensa de la salud y seguridad de un niño”.

La Red de Defensa de Trabajadores Agrícolas (FAN) y One Economy tienen el orgullo de presentar Cosecha de dignidad (Harvest of Dignity), un nuevo documental original que ofrece un retrato detallado de las personas que cosechan nuestros alimentos. Cosecha de dignidad está siendo presentada exclusivamente por Internet en el Public Internet Channel (PIC.tv) de One Economy Corporation.

“El Public Internet Channel de One Economy ofrece programas por Internet que inspiran y fomentan participación y acción”, comentó Daniel Fellini, productor ejecutivo de One Economy Corporation. “Cosecha de dignidad” aborda un tema pertinente para miembros de la comunidad y esperamos que sea un catalizador para discusión, pensamiento y participación”.

El estreno de Cosecha de dignidad coincide con el 50º aniversario de Cosecha de vergüenza (Harvest of Shame), el cual fue transmitido por televisión en 1960 y fue el último programa del periodista de Carolina del Norte Edward R. Murrow. El documental ayudó a que se hicieran cambios permanentes a las leyes para proteger los derechos de trabajadores. El nuevo documental, Cosecha de dignidad, combina entrevistas con trabajadores agrícolas, defensores, líderes religiosos y educadores de Carolina del Norte con fotografías documentales y entrevistas recopiladas por Estudiantes en Acción con Campesinos (Student Action with Farmworkers - SAF) y fragmentos del documental original Cosecha de vergüenza. La película compara las dificultades de los trabajadores agrícolas que viajaban por la ruta de la costa este hace 50 años con la situación actual de los trabajadores y pregunta cuánto ha cambiado.    

“Lo bueno es que no me he enfermado, la verdad, porque supuestamente mucha gente se enferma por este trabajo, por el tabaco y los pesticidas… No nos dicen, pero puedes ver que están rociando pesticidas o hueles los pesticidas después. Puedes olerlo cuando entras al campo, huele a veneno y te das cuenta de lo que está pasando. Y como el jefe habla inglés y tú hablas español, no entiendes mucho”.

–Trabajador agrícola en Carolina del Norte, 2010

El documental fue producido en español e inglés con subtítulos por Minnow Media, en colaboración con FAN (Red de Defensa de Trabajadores Agrícolas) y Estudiantes en Acción con Campesinos (Student Action with Farmworkers). FAN utiliza el trabajo documental en su campaña para reformar las condiciones de los trabajadores de campo y de la industria avícola en Carolina del Norte. Para mayor información sobre la campaña Cosecha de dignidad, visite ncfan.org.

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OSHA Investigating Deadly Farm Accident

Hannah Kendall (left) and Jade Garza (Photo from Facebook)A couple weeks ago we heard another sad reminder of how dangerous – even deadly – farm work can be for young people:

Representatives of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are in northwestern Illinois today, continuing an investigation into the electrocution deaths Monday of two 14-year-old girls working in a cornfield.

According to spokesperson Rhonda Burke in the agency’s Chicago office, OSHA representatives were in Tampico yesterday as well after Jade Garza and Hannah Kendall, both of Sterling, died after coming in contact with a field irrigator while working at removing tassels from corn. A Facebook page has been created to remember the two girls.

The two were among 72 contract workers for Monsanto Corp. who were working the field at that time, according to a release from the St. Louis-based corporation. The release said the two were "electrically shocked by a center pivot irrigation system" and that other workers in the area also reported feeling the shock.

Click here to read more from the Chicago Tribune.

Child working on farms are more likely to die from work-related accidents, and face higher injury and illness rates than adult workers.  Each year, over 100 youth die from farm-related injuries in the U.S., and many more are injured. Children who work in fields treated with pesticides are at greater risk of developing neurological and reproductive health problems, as well as cancer. 

North Carolina child labor law permits children as young as 12 years old and in some cases as young as 10 to labor in the fields, while in every other industry the minimum age is 14 or above. Agriculture is one of the three most dangerous industries in the nation, and yet every year across the country close to 500,000 farmworker children and youth risk their childhood, health, and well-being in order to bring food to our tables. Children in North Carolina are no exception. 

Field investigations in North Carolina have uncovered children as young as six working in the fields. Most Americans still envision farms as safe, nurturing places. Unfortunately, the safe, happy and healthy farm life that many of us imagine is just a myth for farmworker children in North Carolina.

Click here to help end child labor in North Carolina’s fields.  Take action today.

Shameful Harvest

In late July, the Durham News published an amazing op-ed written by a rising 10^th-grader at Carolina Friends School.  Lucas Selvidge’s “Shameful Harvest” talks about his experiences during a week-long service project at Episcopal Farmworker Ministry – a member of FAN. 

While there, Lucas did everything from sorting clothes to visiting labor camps, and he talks about the lasting impression that these experiences made on him:

Some evenings, Father Tony took us to the camps where the farm workers and their families live, where we distributed toiletries, clothes, food and toys. On our first night of visiting we heard that the men had been working in the fields since seven-thirty that morning. They had worked until dusk, which was when we showed up. Hearing that fact alone made me feel tired. I was exhausted from doing two hours of easy work that day. But they work in the fields from dawn until dusk every day for almost no money, which allows us to buy food as cheaply as possible.

No wonder they were too tired to play when our class challenged them to a game of soccer.

What we saw when we went to the camps was that when the farm workers finish their long day of work, they come home to living spaces that are not very pleasant. When I had first seen the farm workers and their children at Father Tony's church service, I had no idea that they were living crammed with lots of people into small trailers with inadequate heating, cooling and insulation, as well as no indoor plumbing, no privacy in bathrooms, and minimal belongings. And that they were working hard all day harvesting our food but barely had enough to feed their own families. Seeing it with our own eyes made a big impression.

Click here to read the entire article.

Sometimes we need to be reminded of the truth that all people deserve dignity in their homes and on the job.  I think we’re all grateful to Lucas for both the week of his life that he offered to others and for raising his voice to help improve their lives over the long-term.  

A Tomato Daydream

By Erin Krauss, Long term resident of NC, lover of just-food, community social worker, FAN Volunteer

My daydream thoughts: Tomatoes are here. Every Saturday, I stroll down to the community farmers market and walk the circle twice, maybe three times – admiring the colors, the smells and the imagined tastes of all the homegrown vegetables I see. Lately, tomatoes have been available in great supply and will continue to be as long as the heat lasts. In the front yard of my apartment building, tomatoes are also thriving. A raised garden bed and multiple buckets make for prime growing space; I am proud and relieved that I’ve finally found the time and space for urban gardening.

Just as my daydream about tomatoes begins to ripen over weeks of planting, watering, and finally picking, I am reminded of the tomato turmoil that exists in the world we live in. I’m not talking about bugs or deer attacks or salsa gone bad; I’m talking about massive global systems wrapped up in the tomato harvest and the many people whose lives depend on these systems.

Barry Estabrook’s new book, Tomatoland, tells the tale of this tomato turmoil. Estabrook was recently featured on NPR’s Fresh Air. During the interview, the author spoke to all the things in my daydream: a tomato’s color, taste, harvest and even nutritional value. He also told the story about how this crop has evolved to be an out-of-season commodity that large-scale farmers in Florida depend on and often exploit for economic gain. The interview explained how the fruit is pumped with nutrients and pesticides to survive in Florida’s climate (which it turns out is not ideal for tomato growing), then picked while hard and green and gassed to achieve artificially ripe coloring. According to Estabrook, in the 1960’s grocery store tomatoes had about 25% more vitamin C and much more niacin and calcium than they do now.

Estabrook also explored the issue of who does the hard labor of tomato harvest and what the consequences are for the people working the fields, including child-labor, modern day slavery, deplorable conditions, poverty wages. In Estabrook’s words, "Of the legal jobs available, picking tomatoes is at the very bottom of the economic ladder. I came into this book chronicling a case of slavery in southwestern Florida that came to light in 2007 and 2008… These were people who were bought and sold. These were people who were shackled in chains at night or locked in the back of produce trucks with no sanitary facilities all night.” Although seven legal cases have been successfully brought to court in the recent past regarding current day slavery, abysmal conditions still abound.

Many of us are familiar with stories of Florida tomatoes and the Coalition of Immokalee (CIW) Workers, including the gains that CIW has made in their long fight for fair treatment and wages, and the challenges they still face. As I listened to this interview on a popular NPR program, I had to pause. These days food writers, foodies, small-scale farmers, anti-hunger workers and people generally concerned with food are all noticing how the agriculture industry in the US is failing on several fronts. Tastes and nutrients have declined while small-scale farmers are increasingly competing all over the world with industrial-scale farming operations. Despite the massive yield of those operations, roughly 1 out of 4 children under 5 go hungry in North Carolina. So who is winning here? The US agriculture industry is failing the American people – the workers, the consumers, small farm owners and hungry children. It seems clear that this system is so broken it’s not working for anyone except massive corporate interests.

Beyond feeling satisfied with the small mark I’ve made by planting my own tomatoes this year, I am grateful for Fresh Air’s interview about Tomatoland. I am grateful for the reminder that all of us are touched by the food system – those who work in it, and those who consume the fruits of labor. We must work together to make this system function well and treat people with dignity. What would it take for our nation’s tomatoes once again to be rich in vitamin C and other nutrients? What would it take for the workers who pick this fruit to be treated with respect? What would it take for this food to really arrive on the plates of the people who need it the most? These are the questions we must make ourselves think about this season while we enjoy fresh summer tomatoes – whether they’re from the grocery store, the farmers market or from our very own back yards.

Let there be dignity in food.