Agricultural Labor and the US Food System
Fruit Pickers, Hardee County, Florida, 1929, Courtesy of State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory Project
An US immigration policy overhaul must take into consideration the issue of agricultural labor shortage that has been growing in this country. Policymakers need to consider a solution to farmers who hire illegal immigrants and exploit them and second provide a viable solution to the labor demands of farmers growing the produce we eat. A comprehensive change in our current immigration needs to include assurances that foreign-born workers in food industries now would be treated fairly and pay taxes on their earnings, have acceptable work and living conditions, and educational opportunities for their children. It is in the best interest of farmers to come to a collective solution to these two issues and in the process reduce the competition of imported produce. It would be in the best interest of environmentalists to join farmers in achieving this goal and in the process reduce the country's carbon footprint.
Gardens, Remedies, and Recipes
Fred Opie's New Book! Southern Food and Civil Rights: Feeding the Revolution
