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Mexicans feed America. Spread across all 50 states, Mexican farm workers are involved in the production of almost every imaginable agricultural commodity, from blueberries in Maine to bananas in Hawaii. Even field corn, which is planted and harvested mechanically, depends on migrant labor. Corn plants must have the top tassels removed by hand to harvest seeds for producing hybrid breeds. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that nearly half of all farm workers are undocumented. In 1942, labor shortages caused by WWII led to the establishment of the Bracero Program, which brought contract workers from Mexico north to work in the agricultural industry. The program, intended as a short-term emergency measure, lasted until 1964 and led to a dependence on inexpensive Mexican labor for the agricultural industry in California and much of the nation..
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Edwin Remsberg
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Mexicans feed America. Spread across all 50 states, Mexican farm workers are involved in the production of almost every imaginable agricultural commodity, from blueberries in Maine to bananas in Hawaii. Even field corn, which is planted and harvested mechanically, depends on migrant labor. Corn plants must have the top tassels removed by hand to harvest seeds for producing hybrid breeds. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that nearly half of all farm workers are undocumented. In 1942, labor shortages caused by WWII led to the establishment of the Bracero Program, which brought contract workers from Mexico north to work in the agricultural industry. The program, intended as a short-term emergency measure, lasted until 1964 and led to a dependence on inexpensive Mexican labor for the agricultural industry in California and much of the nation..