Environmental Justice and Farm Labor
Utilizing a model derived from literature on environmental justice overlaid with multiple scales of agriculture, Environmental Justice and Farm Labor provides key insights about laborers in agriculture in the United States. It addresses three main topics: (1) justice-related issues facing farmers and laborers on farms; (2) how history and policy have impacted them; and (3) the opportunities and leverage points for change in improving justice outcomes.
It explores who labors in US agriculture and the justice-related issues facing these workers, including occupational injury and illness, lack of access to healthcare, substandard housing, hunger, low wages, issues pertaining to immigration, and the inability to organize. In addition, it assesses the impacts of labor safety, immigration and international policy, and in particular the effects of organic and fair trade certification. Two detailed case studies, one based on conventional agriculture in Florida and the other on organic agriculture in the Northeast, highlight the interrelated but unique challenges facing those who labor in the different sectors of this complex agricultural system.
Finally, it touches on justice claims and the role of grassroots activism in improving justice outcomes by highlighting organizations operating at multiple scales to contribute to the livelihood of farmers and laborers in the different areas of agriculture.
Rebecca E. Berkey is Director of Service-Learning, Northeastern University, Boston, USA, and Associate Director, Northeastern Environmental Justice Research Collaborative, USA.
Earthscan Food and Agriculture
The Sociology of Food and Agriculture
Second edition
Michael Carolan
Food Security, Gender and Resilience
Improving smallholder and subsistence farming
Edited by Leigh Brownhill, Esther M. Njuguna, Kimberly L. Bothi, Bernard Pelletier, Lutta W. Muhammad and Gordon M. Hickey
Climate Change and Agricultural Development
Improving resilience through climate smart agriculture, agroecology and conservation
Edited by Udaya Sekhar Nagothu
Forgotten Agricultural Heritage
Reconnecting food systems and sustainable development
Parviz Koohafkan and Miguel A. Altieri
International Law and Agroecological Husbandry
Building legal foundations for a new agriculture
John W. Head
Food Production and Nature Conservation
Conflicts and Solutions
Edited by Iain J. Gordon, Herbert H.T. Prins and Geoff R. Squire
Sustainable Intensification in Smallholder Agriculture
An integrated systems research approach
Edited by Ingrid born, Kwesi Atta-Krah, Michael Phillips, Richard Thomas, Bernard Vanlauwe and Willemien Brooijmans
Environmental Justice and Farm Labor
Rebecca E. Berkey
Plantation Crops, Plunder and Power
Evolution and exploitation
James F. Hancock
Food Security, Agricultural Policies and Economic Growth
Long-term dynamics in the past, present and future
Niek Koning
For further details please visit the series page on the Routledge website: http://www.routledge.com/books/series/ECEFA/
First published 2017
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2017 Rebecca E. Berkey
The right of Rebecca E. Berkey to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him/her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Berkey, Rebecca E., author.
Title: Environmental justice and farm labor / Rebecca E. Berkey.
Description: London ; New York : Routledge, 2017. | Series: Earthscan food and agriculture series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016039035 | ISBN 9781138183155 (hbk) | ISBN 9781315645995 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Environmental justiceUnited States. | Agricultural laborersUnited StatesSocial conditions. | FarmersUnited StatesSocial conditions. | Agriculture and stateUnited States. | Agricultural industries Environmental aspectsUnited States.
Classification: LCC GE230 .B47 2017 | DDC 331.7/630973dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016039035
ISBN: 978-1-138-18315-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-64599-5 (ebk)
This book is dedicated to the millions of hands that feed usproviding fresh, nutritious food to our tables and homes. And, to the giants upon whose shoulders I stand, thank you for paving the way to challenge, learning, and discovery.
I have many people to thank for their guidance, encouragement, challenge and support as represented in the pages of this book. First, to my colleagues and collaborators that are champions of farmworker advocacy and justiceJeannie Economos, Holly Baker, and Elizabeth Hendersonyour advice, guidance, and perspective has been invaluable in shaping my thinking around and exposure to issues facing farmworkers in both conventional and organic agriculture. In addition, I am so appreciative of the feedback each of you offered throughout various stages of this project. I have learned from each of you the value of tenacity in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, and that remaining dedicated to your passion areas over time can, and does, make change.
To my academic colleagues and confidants, thank you for your edits, advice, and feedback. Daniel Faber, Christopher Bosso, and Erika Koss, I am incredibly grateful for the insight you contributed to this projectfrom nudging me to find and include my own voice in the work, to acknowledging and seeking to understand my reverence and respect for those who labor on our farms, to your kind confidence in me. Tania Schusler, Steve Chase, and Joseph Siry, I thank the three of you as well for your guidance and investment throughout my doctoral work and beyond. The sage advice you have selflessly shared with me in the time I have known each of you is reflected in each word, and your mentorship and modeling were continually in my mind as I reflected on how to capture and portray not only the complexity of this topic, but also the real lives of the people this system impacts. In addition, gratitude to my Northeastern University writing group of women and gender non-conforming warrior academics, I deeply admire each of you, and the space we had with one another throughout the year was deeply impactful on my thinking around this project and the path needed to complete it.
