tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171420941776673660.post4107679117972389574..comments2024-03-28T02:29:13.507-07:00Comments on Legal Ruralism: Farmer v. farm workersLisa R. Pruitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16469550950363542801noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171420941776673660.post-50936481204368922632011-04-07T15:00:45.105-07:002011-04-07T15:00:45.105-07:00My mom moved us to Salinas in 2000, to a house lit...My mom moved us to Salinas in 2000, to a house literally 100 feet away from a field that frequently grows green leafy vegetables that are eventually shipped all over the US-- as an aside, Salinas Valley has been dubbed the "Salad Bowl of the World," and I have yet to find spinach anywhere in the US that was not grown at my doorstep. That being said that effects of little legal protections on the workers can be seen on a day to day basis. Fellow students in my classes growing up were undocumented, or the children of farm laborers. Many would disappear, or come to school hungry, or fail to do their homework. They had no additional support in schools, and I wish I had some first hand knowledge of the kinds of interactions they and their parents had with police, but I fear that I was too young at the time to understand fully what was happening. I think that it is only getting worse. The food lobby is one of the most powerful in the nation, and non-citizens and non-immigrants continue to have their rights stripped away by the courts. Unfortunately, I fear that no one really cares.Caitlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16992263462510624604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171420941776673660.post-8551351485499314712011-04-05T15:45:05.073-07:002011-04-05T15:45:05.073-07:00This post is really great and informative. It brou...This post is really great and informative. It brought up for me a question that comes up alot as i think about power distributions in farm labor. Especially as more people return to "homesteading" and having small family worked/family run farms, I have wondered if the Farm Bill subsidies apply only to farms of a certain size or acreage. For instance, does a self run farm of 10 acres get the same access to subsidy as a labor run farmer owned larger farm of say 200 acres? I fear that the smaller farms can not access the national benefits the same way.Dustyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09711162148219741528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171420941776673660.post-14958725970087500972011-04-05T12:27:28.731-07:002011-04-05T12:27:28.731-07:00Thanks, D'Arcy, for the enlightening post. One...Thanks, D'Arcy, for the enlightening post. One part of the equation I do not see emerging yet: When will we collectively agree, as a nation, that (a) we should pay a higher part of our income for foodstuffs than we do now; and (b) that not all of the cost of improving the livelihoods of workers are to be born by the consumers? As to my first point, as Time Magazine recently pointed out, Americans pay on an average about 7% of their income on food, compared with 15-20% in other developed nations, and even higher proportion elsewhere. I will explore the consequences of this in a later, fuller post, but for now, let's move on to the other point: farms and factories alike are likely passing on the price of a living wage to the consumers, instead of decreasing their profit margin, essentially continuing the oppression of the working classes (who are not only the makers of the goods produced but are also the primary consumers of them).Chez Martahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09860566949925845908noreply@blogger.com