The Root of the Problem: Enhancing food security among Latino/a farm workers in Vermont

OBJECTIVE 1. Understand current gaps in food access for Latino/a farm workers on Vermont’s dairy farms

Findings: Impacts on Farm worker Food Access in Vermont

• Absence of a year round visa
• Proximity to the US-Canada border
• Dependence on third party for food access
• Rural isolation
• Busy work schedules
• Language barrier
• Lack of transportation/mobility

The major reoccurring theme in my research has shown that border proximity has an impact on farmworker food access. Farmworkers, particularly those who live and work in Northern Vermont, face the constraints of their close proximity to the U.S.-Canada border, including higher levels of surveillance. The region 100-miles south of the U.S.-Canada border falls under federal jurisdiction. Vermont is 157 miles long, north to south, and so, this zone includes 90% of Vermont residents. However, the 25-mile region along the border is called “primary operating domain”, where the presence of border patrol and enforcement is higher (ACLU Vermont, 2013). After 9/11, the number of border patrol agents doubled, northern border patrol employees were sent to the US-Mexican border to be trained, the northern border was militarized, and surveillance was increased. Peter Andreas (2005) calls this transition the “Mexicanization” of the U.S.-Canadian border. This increased militarization along the border causes extreme isolation for Latino/a migrant farmworkers, forcing them to remain invisible, particularly the closer they live to the U.S.-Canada border. This has had an impact on the ways in which farmworkers are able to (or unable to) access food.

In northern Vermont, food access strategies for farmworkers are dictated by a fear of being in public spaces. Data found in the USDA food security surveys that Dr. Mares and I conducted (n=100) found that in central Vermont’s Addison county, 15.7% of farmworkers are food insecure (n=51), while among those living in Northern Vermont’s Franklin county (which falls in the “primary operating domain”) 18.2% were found to be food insecure (n=33). This discrepancy speaks to the challenge of accessing food, particularly in the northern border regions. Farm owners, who also live in fear of border patrol, encourage farmworkers not to be in public spaces, and commonly do the grocery shopping for their employees. Typically, at least one farmworker in a household is literate in Spanish and will write out a grocery list, and a farm owner or manager will buy groceries every fifteen days or two weeks (McCandless, 2010). A 2010 survey by Naomi Wolcott-MacClausland through UVM Extension found that in border counties 96.2% of migrant farmworkers rely on someone else to go to the store for them (Wolcott-MacClausland, 2010). UVM Extension developed a bilingual food list that assists farmworkers in communicating what they want to the person going to the store for them. Particularly in border regions, farmworkers rely on the farm owner, manager, or someone else to buy the groceries for them. Challenges with this system include barriers in language and literacy, a lack of knowledge about what foods are available, and limited choice in fresh, culturally specific foods.

OBJECTIVE 2. Quantify food insecurity among Latino/a farm workers and identify effective and realistic approaches to increased food access

After years of ethnographic research and participant observation, Dr. Mares and I knew that Vermont had unique challenges to food access because of isolation, border proximity, and busy work schedules. As we embarked on the study to determine baseline food security through the HFSSM, which was used in these other studies, we expected to see the results of farmworkers in Vermont to reflect the disproportionately high levels of food insecurity. We also had the expectation that the survey module may not capture the lived reality of food access. We observed over years of working with farmworkers that having enough money, which is the main indicator in the survey module, was not generally the main barrier to accessing food. The rapid 16-question survey only asks if a household has enough money to access healthy nutritious food, and does not record other barriers such as transportation or busy work schedule. Therefore, we paired the surveys with in-depth interviews and ethnographic methods, as to understand some of the complexity in accessing food, particularly in border regions.

After completing the HFSSM (n=100) the results showed that of the farmworkers on Vermont’s dairies, 18% were classified as food insecure, which does not parallel with other studies. As I attempt to reconcile the differences in this data, there are a few answers that emerge. First, dairy work is desirable employment for farmworkers because of the stability it can offer. In-depth interviews with farmworkers in Vermont who have worked other seasonal jobs around the U.S., affirm that dairy work is preferred to other migrant jobs, because the work is year-round and offers a higher wage than most seasonal migrant work. Also, they are often given housing, which is a major issue for a lot of seasonal labor jobs. This data was further supported after my meeting with Mary Jo Dudley, Director of the Cornell Farmworkers Program, who works with farmworkers in dairy work as well as seasonal vegetable and fruit, and livestock industries. Mary Jo Dudley conveyed that in a state where there is a large population of migrant farmworkers across many agricultural sectors, dairy work is the most stable and often sought after by migrant farm workers. Because Vermont has such a small population of farmworkers, most of whom are working in dairy, this is likely to be a contributing factor in the relatively low percentage of farmworkers experiencing food insecurity.

However, the fact that migrant farmworkers in Vermont are experiencing relatively average food security levels according to the HFSSM, while our qualitative data shows that they are experiencing unique obstacles in this non-traditional destination, indicates that there is a need to examine the metrics and indicators being used to measure food access. This mismatch in quantitative and qualitative data comes back to the HFSSM itself. Often, when conducting the questionnaire, respondents said that yes, they have enough money to buy the food that they need, however they are unable to go to the store because they are afraid of la migra or they do not have transportation or the work schedule is so busy. The survey module cannot capture this feedback, because it only asks about having enough money. For example, in the HFSSM, Lourdes was recorded as having high food security. Yet, as previously discussed, we know that Lourdes is unable to leave the barn apartment where she lived with her husband, two children, and other workers. The survey instrument focuses on economic barriers to food access, but excludes other barriers, including a lack of reliable transportation, busy work schedules, and a fear of border patrol.

Further, the module classifies a “household” as those who are living together under one roof. However, in the case of migrant farmworkers, the household is not restricted to the physical space where they are living while providing labor in exchange for income. In the case of many farmworkers we have surveyed, they lived together with other workers, but they were also supporting households back home. And so, while they may have enough money to purchase food for themselves, they are often sending large portions of their income to Mexico to support medical, food, housing, and education expenses for their spouses, children, parents and extended family. Within the “household” (as classified by the HFSSM on the dairy farm in Vermont) there are often three or four young, single men who are living together, but do not necessarily share money, food, or resources with one another. The HFSSM is unable to capture the complexity of these household structures, which are often elongated geographically in the case of transnational immigration. 

OBJECTIVE 3. Support and develop initiatives to provide farm workers with greater access to healthy, culturally familiar food

Based on the qualitative and quantitative data acquired through my research, I focused on two main initiatives that enable farmworkers to access health, culturally familiar food- Huertas and the Bilingual Supermarket Catalogue. 

HUERTAS

Alongside my research looking at food access and food security among farmworkers in Vermont, I have also coordinating an applied gardening project called Huertas. Huertas, meaning kitchen garden in Spanish, is an applied gardening and community based food access project. This gardening project germinated in response to the variety of pressures on undocumented farmworkers in northern Vermont: pressure to be invisible, fear of border patrol, and lack of mobility. The garden project offers a reprieve where migrant farmworkers can access fresh vegetables and herbs that remind them of home. Through connecting farmworkers with volunteers, materials, and the permission from the dairy owners to plant these gardens, Huertas aims to address the disparities in access to nutritious food while simultaneously bridging the barriers of isolation and social inequalities. The SARE grant enabled me to support the efforts of Huertas in several capacities. I was able to directly coordinate and plant gardens with farmworkers, supervise interns and volunteers involved in the project, and present to community groups and university classes about Huertas and the problems farmworkers face related to food access.

BILINGUAL SUPERMARKET CATALOGUE

The bilingual grocery catalogue was developed throughout the summer of 2016 with the guidance and support of staff from UVM extension. The grocery guide is based upon the findings from my research (above) that farmworkers in the border region experience heightened levels of food insecurity and rely on someone else to go to the grocery store for them. The guide shows images of the foods available at the supermarkets in northern Vermont where third parties do the shopping for farm workers. This guide was brought to farmworkers living in the border region who rely of third parties to do their grocery shopping for them for feedback. The feedback from farmworkers was incorporated into the catalogue, until a final version was created and printed through the support of this NESARE grant. Fifty-five catalogues were printed and the template was shared with staff at UVM extension so that they can edit and distribute in the future.