Theme of the Month: Farmworker Justice
This week (March 25-31) is Farmworker Awareness Week. Herbicide-Free Campus would like to take an opportunity to highlight Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, an incredible organization supporting farmworker women and their families to become leaders in their communities. Alianza is the first national women farmworker organization, created by current and former farmworker women. The organization’s mission is to “Unify the struggle to promote women farmworker’s leadership in a national movement to create broader visibility and advocate for changes that ensure their human rights.” Their key program areas include labor rights, immigrant and migrant justice, reducing pesticide exposure, and ending gender-based violence. Alianza is run by a powerful team of women leaders, including Executive Director Mily Trevino-Sauceda who is one of the founders of the national farmworker women’s movement in the U.S.
Farmworkers in California pick produce, photo by Mackenzie Feldman.
Farmworkers in the United States are often overlooked, overworked and underpaid, but help keep the U.S. economy functioning and food on the table for people all over the world. An estimated two million farmworkers (approximately 70% of whom are undocumented immigrants), prop up the $200+ billion agricultural industry. For every dollar spent at the grocery store, farmworkers get a mere 9 cents, with most living below the poverty line. Approximately 28% of farm workers are female identifying and are often given the least desired, lowest-paying roles. They are also usually the first to be laid off and unfortunately receive fewer opportunities to advance in their careers. Additionally, women working in the fields are often subject to sexual harassment and face frequent gender discrimination.
In the face of these harsh realities, Alianza organizes campaigns to advocate for farmworkers. Excessive pesticide usage is one of their focus areas, as farmworkers’ health and livelihoods are threatened by continued exposure to these chemicals, in addition to the other environmental toxins they come into contact with.Over 5 billion pounds of pesticides are applied to crops each year, resulting in 10,000-20,000 farmworkers experiencing pesticide poisoning. Many suffer from acute pesticide poisoning, with symptoms ranging from headaches, nausea, shortness of breath, and seizures. Those who have worked in the industry for a long time may suffer from chronic pesticide exposure, may develop cancers, neurological disorders, respiratory conditions and may struggle with infertility (or other reproductive problems). Unfortunately, a vast majority of farmworkers remain unaware of the harms of pesticides and are often not legally protected from workplace hazards due to intentional undereducation.
In order to address this gap in knowledge, Alianza hosts their annual morralitos campaign to spread awareness about the impacts of pesticides. As part of the campaign, farmworkers, their families, and community members across the country decorate and exhibit satchels to express concern about pesticide exposure, share safety and health messages, and demonstrate the impact of pesticides on agricultural communities. The satchels resemble the ones farmworkers use to carry produce in the fields. This project helps to educate and create awareness around the detriments of pesticide usage in farmworker communities.
An example of a satchel created as part of the morralitos campaign, photo courtesy of Alianza.
At HFC we are excited to highlight Alianza and their efforts to uplift Voces de Campesinas (Voices of Farmworker Women). We believe the issue of pesticide usage is incredibly intersectional and increasing education on the harms and potential alternatives can help transform our food system into a more healthy, holistic, and resilient one. Because our work focuses on changing the landscape practices at universities, it is really important for HFC to partner with frontline groups working with farmworkers in agriculture, as the end goal is to eliminate herbicides everywhere: at our schools, parks, farms, food systems, and bodies. And it is essential that we focus on the people who are the most exposed to these harmful chemicals. You can learn more about Alianza’s work and support their efforts here. Learn more about their work via the graphics below and check out our post featuring Alianza’s work on Instagram.
