Social Issues in Current U.S. Agriculture
Part 3 – 48 | Unit 3.2
References & Resources
Kandel, William. 2008. Profile of Hired Farmwork-
ers: A 2008 Update. Economic Research Report No.
60, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department
of Agriculture. http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/205619/
err601.pdf
Lopez, Ann A. 2007. The Farmworkers’ Journey.
Berkeley: University of California Press..
This book explores the lives and situation of
migrant farmworkers who routinely travel
between west-central Mexico and central
California to make a living. Ten years of
conducting ethnographic research in California
and Mexico led to the production of this book.
Depictions of the lives of farmworkers, and
subsistence farmers in Mexico, are presented
along with the structural policies, institutions,
and context that keep these people in perpetual
poverty and this particular way of life.McWilliams, Carey. 1935. Factories in the Fields:
The Story of Migratory Farm Labor in California.
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Excellent and critical historical analysis of
farm labor in California. Special emphasis is
placed on the ways in which ethnicity and the
seasonality of labor demand combine with
industrial capitalism’s infiltration of agriculture
to create an unjust labor system.The National Commission on Agricultural Trade
and Export Policy. 1986. New Realities: Toward
a Program of Effective Competition. Washington
D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Pollan, Michael. 2002. Power Steer. New
York Times Magazine. 3/31/02. http://www.ny-
times.com/2002/03/31/magazine/power-steer.
html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
Enlightening investigative article navigating the
U.S. beef industry.Rothenberg, Daniel. 1998. With These Hands: The
Hidden World of Migrant Farmworkers Today. New
York: Harcourt Brace and Company.
This book describes the lives of farmworkers
and the system within which they work.
Interviews with farmworkers, contractors,
farmers, and others in this area and presented
in their words. Background research and the
author’s conclusions are also included. This
wide variety of interviews gives the reader an
education on the power relations and structure
of employment in U.S. agriculture, as well as afair treatment of a very wide set of perspectives
and first-person testimonies of the difficult
racial, class, and citizenship problems associated
with migrant labor.Schlosser, Eric. 2001. Fast Food Nation: The Dark
Side of the All-American Meal. New York: Hough-
ton Mifflin Company.
This book focuses on all the components behind
the production of fast food. Three chapter focus
on labor issues. Chapter 3 looks at food service
labor in the fast food restaurant. Chapter 7—
Cogs in the Machine—give a brief history of the
current meat packing industry, showing how it
got to where it is today. Chapter 8 details what
it is like working in the new meatpacking plants.Schlosser, Eric. 2003. In the Strawberry Fields, in
Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in
the American Black Market. New York: Houghton
Mifflin Company.
Steinbeck, John. 1939. The Grapes of Wrath. New
York: Viking Penguin Books.
At minimum, the first twelve chapters are
recommended for their poignant and compelling
discussion of the human and environmental
impacts of agricultural modernization. The
parallels between the experiences of the
characters in this novel and today’s migrant
laborers should not be overlooked.Thompson Jr., Charles D., and Melinda F. Wiggin
eds. 2002. The Human Cost of Food: Farmworkers’
Lives, Labor, and Advocacy. Austin, TX: University
of Texas Press.
This edited book covers several topics related
to farm labor, such as health, housing and
immigration issues. Other chapters explore the
how farmworkers are excluded from labor laws,
history of the guest worker program, challenges
facing migrant students, and the history of labor
organizing. Includes an outline for developing a
syllabus for a more extensive education, aimed
at farmworker advocacy.U.S. Department of Labor. 2012. Occupational
Employment Statistics—May 2012 National Oc-
cupational Employment and Wage Estimates in the
United States. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#35-0000