Farmworker Food Insecurity and the Production of Hunger in California - Week 5 Blog Post

    While reading this piece, I reflected on a tremendous amount of parallels within our current political situation in the U. S. However, learning about how California agricultural industries from the very beginning were driven by capital accumulation and competition and how this created decades of inequal food “security” was the real treat of the article. I was surprised, but also somewhat not surprised, to learn that the continued influx of immigrant workers during this time was a result of big agricultural businesses “sourcing labor through third-party farm labor contractors… and direct retaliation against workers who attempted to organize, as well as other forms of union-busting.” (Brown et al, 2011) And of course, as administration shifts between “left” and “right”, progress on these fronts fell by the wayside. 

    With this then came an influx of campesinos that have been pulled into the U.S. agricultural jobs but then have been pushed off of the very lands they farm due to shifting priorities in immigration and domestic policy. The Campesinos are Mexican laborers who migrate to the U.S. as a direct result of the ongoing oscillation of social, political, and financial challenges between the U.S. and Mexico. The enactment of NAFTA put several nails in the metaphorical Mexican agricultural coffin. Once again, these reforms were implemented over several years before they were officially enacted, and backed by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the United States. 

    Mexico then shifted its focus to the production of cash crops for agro-export (McMichael 2000). Additionally, the import of U.S. corn to Mexico now had no restrictions and was 30% below the average cost of Mexican production companies (Polaski 2004; Ulrich 2006). By 2002, over 1.3 million jobs had been lost in the agricultural sector (Polaski 2004). Thus; ensuring a very uncertain future for Mexican agriculture. 

    The hundreds of thousands of exploited Mexican farmworkers are intrinsically linked to more local and national struggles for food sovereignty. One struggle does not supersede another, merely they are all links in a chain that is constructed on the trajectory of exasperated capital gain. And once again, we are faced with the harsh reality of the racist anti-immigration beliefs that are generally being spun from a nationalist perspective. It’s truly saddening to think that it was actually difficult to even conduct a thorough study of this population of people due to their housing insecurity while they are working in the U.S.

    It's vital to consider that this is only a sample of the agricultural industries and landscapes of the world. For true food sovereignty, all imports/exports and dependent national trade relations should be considered. This article specifically points to the lack of consideration for the farmworkers regarding their monetary wages. As it is a widely understudied and uninvestigated portion of food justice, we must remember these important aspects.