Labor and the locavore : the making of a comprehensive food ethic

238 Pages·2014·2.147 MB·English

by  Gray, Margaret

Labor and the Locavore
the making of a comprehensive
food ethic
Margaret Gray
university of california press
berkeley los angeles london
Labor and the Locavore

Labor and the Locavore
the making of a comprehensive
food ethic
Margaret Gray
university of california press
berkeley los angeles london
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university
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University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2014 by Th e Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gray, Margaret.
Labor and the locavore : the making of a comprehensive food ethic /
Margaret Gray.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-520-27667-3 (cloth, alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-520-27669-7 (pbk., alk. paper)
1. Agricultural laborers—Abuse of—Hudson River Valley (N.Y.
and N.J.) 2. Agricultural laborers—Employment—Hudson River Valley
(N.Y. and N.J.) 3. Labor policy—Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.)
I. Title.
HD1527.N7G73 2013
331.2′97473—dc23 2013011414
Manufactured in the United States of America
22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In keeping with its commitment to support environmentally responsible and
sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Cascades
Enviro 100, a 100% post consumer waste, recycled, de-inked fi ber. FSC
recycled certifi ed and processed chlorine free. It is acid free, Ecologo certifi ed,
and manufactured by BioGas energy.
contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Is Local Food an
Ethical Alternative? 1
1 Agrarianism and Hudson Valley Agriculture 15
•
2 Th e Workers: Labor Conditions, Paternalism,
•
and Immigrant Stories 41
3 Th e Farmers: Challenges of the Small Business 68
•
4 Sustainable Jobs? Ethnic Succession
•
and the New Latinos 102
5 Toward a Comprehensive Food Ethic 128
•
Methodological Appendix 151
Notes 155
Bibliography 183
Index 205

illustrations
TABLE
1. Comparison of Farming among the Hudson Valley
and Various States 39
map
1. Hudson Valley counties 4
figures
Pages 97–101
1. Harvesters of summer vegetables survey a fi eld
2. Workers pull weeds from an onion fi eld
3. Workers pick and tie greens for local distribution
4. Th e squash harvest requires repeated bending and using a sharp knife
to cut the stalk
5. Harvesting leeks involves trimming their long leaf sheaths
6. Band-Aids don’t stand up to the work routine, so here a worker has
used duct tape on his cuts
7. Freshly harvested sweet potatoes are packed to go to market
vii
8. Packinghouse workers inspect and pack zucchini
9. Four undocumented mothers display electronic tracking ankle bracelets
used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
10. Workers and advocates call for equal rights for farmworkers at the
annual Justice for Farmworkers Day in Albany
viii • illustrations
acknowledgments
Th is book would not have been possible without the cooperation of my many
interviewees, the vast majority of whom were assured confi dentiality and
whom I cannot thank by name. I am deeply grateful to the farmworkers who
welcomed me into their homes and spoke to me about their lives. I also want
to thank the growers who were willing to share their stories and opinions on
farm labor. In addition, I am greatly indebted to farmworker advocates and
service providers who let me join their ranks; in particular, thank you to
Richard Witt and the late Jim Schmidt.
A grant from the ILGWU 21st Century Heritage Fund allowed me to
conduct interviews with Hudson Valley farmworkers; further grants from the
Richard Styskal Dissertation Fellowship and Adelphi University supported
my research and writing. Additional research and writing was conducted
while I was a Rockefeller postdoctoral fellow at Stony Brook University’s
Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center, where I met Paul Gootenberg,
Javier Auyero, Eileen Otis, Christina Ewig, and Luis Reygades, all of whom
off ered valuable advice on my project.
Frances Fox Piven has been a staunch advocate of my work and helped me
develop a strong sense of my methodology, data analysis, and writing. She
off ered invaluable advice and let me disagree with her whenever I wanted.
Other mentors include Andrew Polsky, Juan Flores, John Mollenkopf, Robert
Smith, Lenny Markovitz, and Ken Erickson. Colleagues who off ered impor-
tant insights on earlier versions of these chapters include Penny Lewis, Glen
Bibler, Arielle Goldberg, Rose Muzio, Kevin Ozgercin, Miriam Jimenez,
Carey Powers, Lorna Mason, Victoria Allen, Rich Meager, and Lori Minnite.
My fi eldwork with farmworkers was conducted in collaboration with the
Bard College Migrant Labor Project, and I would like to extend my thanks
ix