Structural Conditions - Farm Worker Injustice

May 8, 2000

I've just read Lighthall's article, " A Food System Approach to Farm

Worker Issue " in the Rural California Report publication. He states that,

" The fundamental misperception lies in seeing this as a problem of

agriculture when it is in fact a reflection of underlying structural forces

within the global food system. " He also talks about the role consumers

play in not paying the full cost for our food--in short we all play a part

in the oppression of this group of workers. This is an excellent article I

encourage all to read it. Currently I am working out of the sociology

department and I have long been aware that structural conditions need to to

be addressed. I do believe that awareness of global economics/capitalist

issues is important but I always seem to hit a brick wall as to what we can

do to change structural conditions.

I am working on a very micro focused project which uses theater to educate

workers about health and safety hazards. I believe in this method but I

want to learn about macro efforts that will lead to changes in the

structural conditions that impact farm workers. Otherwise it just seems

like we keep developing interventions for the " survivors " of this system

but won't make any significant changes. I would appreciate any references

or thoughts you have. Thanks

May 10, 2000

I would like to thank this author for their kind words. I hope it is not

too presumptuous to attach the essay they (?) are referring to. I would

also like to express my own appreciation to the excellent presentation made

at the Portland Migrant Health Conference by Tina Castanares, Who Are

Tomorrow's Farmworkers? As a social scientist who has been working in the

field of agriculture for some time, I was a bit humbled by her impressive

synthesis of issues. An excellent background book that provides us with a

powerful historical and theoretical perspective from which to situate the

struggle of farmworkers within capitalist agriculture is The Food System: A

Guide by Geoff Tansey and Ian Worsley.

As a footnote to the essay, a major problem we face in Cal. is the fact that

in a given year there is a substantial number of growers who make

substantial profits, particularly those who have some form of vertical

integration (they tend to make good profits every year). But because of

swings in commodity prices related to things like the recent Southeast Asian

financial crisis or climatic variability, many growers may suffer losses

from time to time. As a result, as a class, growers do whatever they can to

depress their labor costs. Smaller growers, we also know, are particularly

vulnerable--that is why they have been getting swallowed up by their larger

neighbors for years. In short, agriculture is a brutally competitive part

of the food system that results in a great deal of suffering for

farmworkers. What Tina was honest enough to point out in Portland was the

negative impact of continued undocumented immigration on wages and

farmworker communities. This is the other side of the equation.

Regards,

Lighthall Ph.D.

Executive Director

California Institute for Rural Studies

P.O. Box 2143 (U.S. Mail)

221 G Street, Suite 204

, CA 95616

Tel: (530)756-6555

Fax: (530)756-7429

dlighthall@...

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Subject: [ ] Structural Conditions - Farm Worker

Injustice