"Most of all, though, he wants a little respect from American consumers. "I would like to see that the public values our work," he said. "We contribute to society, first by picking the food you eat, but also by spending money in this country on clothes, gas, food and rent like any other group of people."
~ B. Estabrook
http://www.eatingwell.com/article/291645/farmers-cant-find-enough-workers-to-harvest-cropsand-fruits-and-vegetables-are-literally-rotting-in-fields/
"Savoring one of the richest, most densely sweet strawberries I'd ever tasted, I was struck by the bitter irony it represented. Serrano had achieved the American dream. Smuggled illegally into the country from Mexico at age 3 in the trunk of a Ford Gran Torino, Serrano joined his parents, who had arrived earlier, in the California fields. He became a legal resident in 1986 under President Reagan's amnesty bill, advanced through a series of agricultural jobs and, four years ago, fulfilled his dream of owning his own farm company—JAS Family Farms Organic. In addition to strawberries and summer squash, Serrano raises tomatoes, artichokes and cabbages on about 100 acres. But instead of enjoying the success he worked so hard to build, he is forced to stand by helplessly as his crops rot in the fields. Thousands of dollars' worth of nutritious—and delicious—food was going to waste all around us. "When I first started the farm, people were always showing up at the gates begging for work," Serrano said. "Now, we farmers are the ones who are begging for workers."
~ B. Estabrook
No comments:
Post a Comment