February 2025 Newsletter

Issue #96

Farm Workers

Globally, most of the people who plant, grow, harvest, pack, process and serve the food around the world do not earn enough to meet their own basic nutritional needs. They are among the lowest paying jobs in any country. 

Bread for the World


In low and middle income countries, 33% of the workers are employed in agriculture and in the poorest nations, it can be as high as 80%.

World Bank


There are approximately 2.9 million agricultural workers in the United States.

National Center for Farmworker Health


These workers travel and work throughout the U.S., serving as the backbone for $1 trillion agricultural industry.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Foreign Workers

70% of agricultural workers in the U.S. are

foreign born. 

National Center for Farmworker Health


63% of all agricultural workers in the U.S. were born in Mexico

National Center for Farmworker Health

15% of agricultural workers in the U.S. identify as migratory, while 85% are settled. 

National Center for Farmworker Health


Of the foreign workers, 7% are immigrants who have obtained U.S. citizenship, 19% are other authorized immigrants (primarily permanent residents or green-card holders), and the remaining 42% hold no

work authorization.

U.S. Department of Agriculture


9 of the 18 U.S. industries with the highest percentage of undocumented workers are related to the food system. 

Pew Research Center


Strict immigration laws passed in several states have demonstrated the severe impacts of farm labor shortages. For example, a University of Georgia study found that House Bill 87, adversely affected the state’s agricultural output. Georgia lost over $181 million in less than a year due to increased

labor shortages. 

National Center for Farmworker Health

Pay

The median annual wage for agricultural workers is $34,790 or $16.73 per hour

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics


20% of agricultural worker families have family income levels below the national poverty guidelines.

U.S. Department of Labor


In addition to low wages, agricultural workers rarely have access to worker’s compensation, occupational rehabilitation, or disability compensation benefits.  

National Center for Farmworker Health


Although many agricultural workers meet income guidelines for programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), very few are able to secure these benefits because of different state eligibility requirements and having families with mixed immigration statuses.  

National Center for Farmworker Health

Race

Farming is the 2nd whitest occupation in America (after property appraisers). Only 1.3% of US farmers are African American.

U.S. Department of Agriculture


African American farmers have routinely been denied loans for which they were qualified or experienced lengthy delays. For example as recently as the 1990’s the average loan processing time was 220 days for black farmers and 60 days for white farmers. 

University of Wisconsin-Madison Land Tenure Center 


Health

Farm work is one of the most dangerous occupations in the country. Exposure to toxic chemicals leads to high rates of respiratory illnesses and cancers. Up to 3,000 U.S. farmworkers suffer from acute pesticide poisoning every year. 

Farmworker Justice: Occupational and Environmental Health


Obstacles to adequate health care include: limited means of transportation, language and cultural barriers, no health coverage, cost of services, the lack of time-efficient healthcare delivery methods and the medical referral system.

California Institute for Rural Studies


The top 3 health issues for farm workers are:

  • Obesity
  • Hypertension
  • Diabetes

Health and Resources Services Administration

Housing

Most agricultural worker housing is often substandard or overcrowded. For example a study conducted in North Carolina found that about 89% of the agricultural worker labor camps had more than one condition that violated the Migrant Housing Act.

American Journal of Industrial Medicine

Gender

26.4% of farmworkers in the U.S. are women.

U.S. Department of Agriculture


80% of female farmworkers report that they have been sexually harassed or assaulted by coworkers

or employers.

Northeastern University of Law

Education

The average level of completed education for farmworkers in the U.S. is 9th grade.

National Center for Farmworker Health

Unions

Less than 5% of all farmworkers are covered by

a union.

United States Department of Labor

Child labor

There are approximately 99 million child laborers worldwide and almost 50% of these are between the ages of 5 and 11

International Labor Organization


In every world region, more than 50% of all child laborers work in agriculture and 85% of African child laborers work in agriculture. 

International Labor Organization


Poverty is the root cause of child labor in agriculture. For example, in some of the largest cocoa producing nations, the average farmer earns about 5084 cents a day. 

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations


International law allows children to work in family enterprises if they are at least 12 years old, the work is not hazardous, and they are not kept out of school. 

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations


More than 66% of child laborers attend school. However they perform poorly compared to nonworking peers.

University of Chicago Press


Child laborers are more likely than peers to suffer from malnutrition before age 2

Journal of Public Health


For more on Labor, click here.

More Resources

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World 

By Robin Wall Kimmerer. The author of Braiding Sweetgrass, proposes to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world. Looks to Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most. The author is donating her advance payments from this book as a reciprocal gift, back to the land, for land protection, restoration, and justice. Read more.


For more on the Environment, click here.

The Ocean Cleanup

A nonprofit organization, consisting of engineers, researchers, scientists, computational modelers, and supporting roles, working daily to develop and scale technologies to rid the world's oceans of plastic. Their aim is to put themselves out of business once the oceans are clean. Learn more.


For more on the Environment, click here.

National Marine Sanctuary Foundation

The only official nonprofit partner to the National Marine Sanctuary System; works with communities to conserve and expand healthy oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes. Safeguards species and their habitats to preserve America’s maritime resources. Their programs center around science and conservation, connecting people and communities to sanctuaries, and creating the next generation of ocean stewards through in- and out-of-school education. Learn more.


For more on the Environment, click here.

Policing White Supremacy: The Enemy Within

By Mike German & Beth Zasloff. A former FBI agent who worked undercover in white supremacist and militia groups, issues a wake-up call about law enforcement’s dangerously lax approach to far-right violence. Reveals how the FBI doesn't prioritize investigations into white supremacist violence, instead targeting marginalized groups such as environmentalists and Black Lives Matter. Notes that the FBI does not even compile accurate national data on white supremacist violence, exposes the continuing tolerance of overt racism in law enforcement, and police membership in white supremacist organizations. Shows how the lack of transparency and accountability in federal, state, and local law enforcement has eroded public trust and undermined democracy. Read more.


For more on Racism, click here.

You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live: Ten Weeks in Birmingham That Changed America

By Paul Kix. Tells the story of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s pivotal 10 week campaign in 1963 to end segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Provides a window into the minds of the four extraordinary men who led the campaign―Martin Luther King, Jr., Wyatt Walker, Fred Shuttlesworth, and James Bevel. As the fight for equality continues on many fronts, it is helpful to our understanding of our own time and the impact that strategic activism can have. Read more.


For more on Racism, click here.

Women's Refugee Commission

A nonprofit organization that works to create a better world for refugees. Their mission is to improve the lives and protect the rights of women, children, youth, and other people who are often overlooked, undervalued, and underserved in humanitarian responses to displacement and crises. WRC works in partnership with displaced communities to research their needs, identify solutions, and advocate for gender-transformative and sustained improvement in humanitarian, development, and displacement policy and practice. Learn more.


For more on Refugees, click here.

A Hospital in the Cloud

Bringing Health Care Anywhere in the World

A TED Talk featuring Mohamed Aburawi, who explores how his digital health platform, Speetar, uses AI to bridge the healthcare gap in underserved regions, like his native Libya, by connecting patients with doctors who truly understand their needs.

Watch now.


For more on Health Care, click here.

Health Care is a Right, Not a Privilege

A TED Talk, featuring healthcare executive Maija Williams, who in a personal narrative and slam poem, exposes the stark disparities in the current system, recounting her experience dealing with a dangerous medical emergency. Delivers a call to action for everyone to recognize health care as a fundamental right that must be delivered equitably. Watch now.


For more on Health Care, click here.

How to Feed 10 Billion People --

Without Destroying Nature

A Ted Talk, featuring Andy Jarvis, who presents a menu of sustainable options, highlighting innovations, investments and policies that could help drastically lower our carbon footprint and provide everyone with the nourishment they need.

Watch now.


For more on Hunger, click here.

Food Access Research Atlas

A resource from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that provides a map of the accessibility of food across the the U.S. It features 4 layers: low income and low access ranging from 1/2 mile to 20 miles. It also possible to search by area and is printable.

Learn more.


For more on Hunger, click here.

Fast Food Restaurant Map

A resource from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that visually highlights the density of fast food restaurants across the country. Uses a scale of number of restaurants to 1,000 people. Learn more.


For more on Hunger, click here.

Sanctuary People: Faith Based Organizing in Latina/o Communities

By Gina M. Pérez. Explores ways faith communities offer protection and services for Latina/o communities. Specifically explores sanctuary practices in Ohio but applies them in broader local and national efforts to provide refuge and care in the face of the challenges facing Latina/o communities in a moment of increased surveillance, migrant detention, displacement, and economic and social marginalization. Argues for a larger idea of sanctuary that includes the precarious conditions of Latinas/os beyond migration status. Based on four years of ethnographic research and interviews at the local, state, and national levels, offers an exploration of the ways in which faith communities are creating new activist strategies and enacting new forms of solidarity, working within the sometimes conflicting ideological space between religion and activism to answer the call of justice and live their faith.

Read more.


For more Community Organizing resources,

click here.

Alliance to End Human Trafficking

A collaborative, faith-based national network of over 200 congregations of Catholic Sisters, that offers education, supports access to survivor services, and engages in advocacy to eradicate human trafficking. Works to inform the public, prevent this assault on human dignity, and assists survivors to live fulfilling lives. Learn more.


For more on Human Trafficking, click here.

Norwegian Refugee Council

An independent humanitarian organization helping people who are forced to flee. Protects displaced people and supports them as they build a new future. Works in both new and protracted crises across 40 countries, specializing in six areas: food security, education, shelter, legal assistance, protection from violence, and water, sanitation and hygiene. Also provides data and an interactive global map indicating which countries refugees are fleeing and which countries are helping them. Learn more.


For more on Refugees, click here.

Friends Committee on National Legislation

A national, nonpartisan Quaker organization that lobbies Congress for peace, justice, and environmental stewardship. Brings together tens of thousands of people—who share a belief in the power of relationship-building to advance the world they seek. Their multi-faceted approach is powered by the expertise of registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C., the commitment and passion of people around the country in their advocacy network, the integrity of their positions, and the relationships they cultivate with elected officials and community leaders.

Learn more.


For more on Legislative Advocacy, click here.

 
Important Dates This Month

Individuals Honored This Month
February Birth Date Unknown
I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.
February 3rd
For any human being, freedom is essential, crucial to our dignity and our ability to be fully human.
February 4th
As far back as I can remember, I knew there was something wrong with our way of life when people could be mistreated because of the color of their skin.
February 4th
If I sit next to a madman as he drives a car into a group of innocent bystanders, I can’t, as a Christian, simply wait for the catastrophe, then comfort the wounded and bury the dead. No, I must try to wrestle the steering wheel out of the hands of the driver. 

February 7th
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. But when I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.
February 11th
It is so easy to break down and destroy. The heroes are those who make peace and build.
February 12th
The death of the forest is the end of our life.
February 23rd
What a world this will be when human possibilities are freed, when we discover each other, when the stranger is no longer the potential criminal and the certain inferior!

February 27th
There are many people ready to do what is right because in their hearts they know it is right. But they hesitate, waiting for the other person to make the make the first move - and the other person, in turn, waits for you.
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