In these photos taken on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013, near Fresno, Calif., farmworkers pick paper trays of dried raisins off the ground and heap them onto a trailer in the final step of raisin harvest. In Spanish, they say: “levantando la pasa” – lifting up the raisin. (AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka)
AP STORY: Labor shortages, a new reality in agriculture?
I’m usually a big skeptic when it comes to labor shortages in agriculture. I put on my reporter hat and ask: are these shortages real, or are they just slogans used by the agriculture industry to advance an agenda? I say this, because for years – for decades – the U.S. had been awash in farmworkers streaming in from Mexico. …
AP STORY, AP PHOTOS: The farmworkers of 1986
With the battle over the bipartisan “gang of eight” immigration bill heating up, I took a look at what the bill might do for farmworkers. While it’s hard to predict how workers will behave if given a path to citizenship faster than the rest of the undocumented population – but recent history offers a few interesting lessons. Just like the current …
AP STORY: Deferred Action for workers
Thousands of young immigrants lined up last week across the country hoping for the right to work legally in America without being deported. The Obama administration’s new program – called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA for short – is meant for those who came to the U.S. as children, grew up steeped in American culture and have little or nothing to …
AP PHOTOS: Bug’s Eye View
Last year, I did a photo shoot for the AP about strawberry workers. Some time later, I was contacted by a painter from the Central Coast. Claire O. Harkins wrote that she saw my article and photos in the Monterey County Herald and asked whether she could use one of the photos as inspiration for an oil painting. I agreed …
AP STORY: Latino Strawberry Growers
Early this week, I drove to the Watsonville-Salinas valley on California’s Central Coast – half of the strawberries grown in the state come from this area. And California grows 90 percent of the nation’s strawberries. It is clear to see why Watsonville-Salinas is ‘strawberry central.’ As soon as you get off the highway, you are completely surrounded by strawberry fields. …
AP STORY: Cantaloupe listeria impacts
Here’s my story on the effects of the listeria outbreak on those working in the cantaloupe business… and the repercussions of outbreaks in general on the produce industry. Read story here
AP PHOTOS: Cantaloupe harvest
Today I shot photos for my AP story on how the cantaloupe listeria outbreak is affecting workers and farmers in California and Arizona, the nation’s top two cantaloupe growing states. Here are farmworkers harvesting in the fields near Firebaugh, a small town in California’s Central Valley.
STORY: Hurdles to organizing farmworkers
In 1975, the UFW fought for workers’ right to hold secret ballot elections. Now, in a historic shift, it is backing a California bill that would move organizing efforts off farms, where leaders believe employer intimidation has helped throw elections.
AP STORY: Supervisors take plea deal in farmworker death
The criminal case over the heat-related death of teen farmworker Maria Isavel Vasquez Jimenez has come to an end. The result did not amount to much. In an emotionally charged courtroom, the farm supervisors who authorities say did not provide shade or water to the pregnant 17-year old took a plea deal. They didn’t get any jail time. Read about …
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