The lives of child farmworkers in their own pictures and words

From my 2014 blog The Considerate Omnivore... Each year, a little-known contest by a little-known agency in Washington, DC lets children of migrant farmworkers portray their lives in essays and drawings. The annual contest by the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs invites these children to submit essays and artwork for judging by a panel, with … Continue reading The lives of child farmworkers in their own pictures and words →

Father Tony

From my 2014 blog The Considerate Omnivore... He's collected a small mountain of donated toothbrushes and T-shirts but what he really needs are pants: About four thousand pair. Father Jesus Antonio Rojas, known by all as Father Tony, runs the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry in Dunn, North Carolina. From an airy facility about an hour south … Continue reading Father Tony →

A Chavez for here and now

From my 2014 blog The Considerate Omnivore... For many migrant farmworkers, things haven’t changed much since the 1970s when the legendary activist Cesar Chavez co-founded, with Dolores Huerta, the union known today as the United Farm Workers. Today in North Carolina and surrounding states, some of the people working one of the most dangerous jobs … Continue reading A Chavez for here and now →

These vecinos are more than just neighbors

From my 2014 blog The Considerate Omnivore... We were lost. That’s what I concluded from the back of the minivan going up and down mountain roads in western North Carolina, past tiny homes and trailer parks that tourists rarely see. “The note says look for an RV next to a dumpster.” Devereaux was in the … Continue reading These vecinos are more than just neighbors →

Cultivating farmworker advocates, one student at a time

From my 2014 blog The Considerate Omnivore... Like many farmworker advocates, Melinda Wiggins can rattle off a long list of injustices faced by the people who harvest America’s food -- stagnant wages, unsafe working conditions, housing often unfit for human habitation, and one she finds particularly unconscionable: Many farmworkers aren't allowed visitors in the camps … Continue reading Cultivating farmworker advocates, one student at a time →

Land of the free? Not for U.S. farmworkers according to visiting British MPs

From my 2014 blog The Considerate Omnivore... Last night, a 13-year old farmworker spoke to the panel from experience: She’s been working in the fields of North Carolina since the age of 7. Now she just wants to finish high school and go to college, but knows her parents can’t afford it. Another farmworker held … Continue reading Land of the free? Not for U.S. farmworkers according to visiting British MPs →

Handcuffed in defense of farmworker rights

From my 2014 blog The Considerate Omivore... The irate grower cut off conversation. “I’m giving you to the count of five to get off my property. Five, four, three…” Union organizer Raul Jimenez stood firm. “Two! One!! Okay lock him up.” The sheriff snapped on the cuffs. This is what I saw late last night … Continue reading Handcuffed in defense of farmworker rights →

500 miles from Immokalee

From my 2014 blog The Considerate Omnivore... Danny should feel comfortable here and the tomato pickers should see him as one of their own. But he doesn’t, and they don’t. Eighteen-year-old Daniel Guzman is in a labor camp in the South Carolina Lowcountry, some 500 miles away from Immokalee, Florida where he grew up in … Continue reading 500 miles from Immokalee →

It ain’t just tobacco

From my 2014 blog The Considerate Omnivore... Thanks to a recent feature on The Daily Show and a slew of media attention (links below) a lot more people are now aware of the problem of children working in U.S. tobacco fields. This attention is a very good thing, but the problem goes way beyond tobacco: … Continue reading It ain’t just tobacco →

Considering the farmworker

From my 2014 blog The Considerate Omnivore... Given how corporatized, mechanized and super-sized American food production has become, I wonder how many people know that the harvesting of fruits and vegetables is still done mostly by hand. It is. Much of what you see in the produce aisle was picked by migrant farmworkers. These men, … Continue reading Considering the farmworker →