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A portrait of migrant farm workers in North Carolina who are exposed to toxic pesticides at work. Workers share their stories, concerns and suggestions for reform. Produced by Laura Valencia for Toxic Free NC (www.toxicfreenc.org).
Uploaded by HumanRightsWatch on May 3, 2010. Ask your congress person to support the CARE Act: http://hrw.kintera.org/support-CARE
Footage by U. Roberto Romano
Children in the Fields is a short documentary about the hidden problem of migrant children working in U.S. agriculture today. Farmworker children, parents and experts share their experiences and the reasons behind this injustice, with recommendations on what you can do to make a difference. Filmed in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Texas, Children in the Fields will open your eyes to the plight of a population of American children who, due to unfair child labor laws and their families poverty, work to help make ends meet. Produced by The Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, ©2008
Judith L. Wold, director of the Farm Worker Family Health Program, describes the health problems faced by migrant workers like those who are served by the program, which since 1993 has provided health care or migrant farm workers and their families on site at farmers in south Georgia. Migrant workers and their children frequently lack medical and dental care and come to clinics with severe dental problems, malnutrition, foot problems, skin rashes, and other issues which require attention.
For more videos and information, visit: http://cookingupastory.com This is the first in a six part video series speaking with Larry Kleinman, Secretary-Treasurer for the Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United (PCUN) about the plight of farmworkers in Oregon, and across the country. PCUN shares its ideological roots with the United Farmworkers Union (UFW), but it’s a separate organization whose base is concentrated in the Oregon counties of Marion, Polk, and Eastern Clackamas, south of nearby Portland.
What kind of nation does America want to be? What cultural values do we wish to preserve as an essential part of how we would define the American character? How do we look upon people less fortunate, and those whose religion, native country, ethnicity, may be different from our own? Are we a nation that becomes galvanized to act— out of fear, or out of hope?
In part 3, Larry Kleinman, of the Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United explains the distinction between migrant farm workers and seasonal workers, and how their respective populations have changed dramatically in Oregon over the years.
This clip is from the 1959 film, Why Braceros?, produced to justify the braceros program to the general public. The program was initially prompted by a demand for manual labor during World War II, and began with the U.S. government bringing in a few hundred experienced Mexican agricultural laborers to harvest sugar beets in the Stockton, California area. The program soon spread to cover most of the United States and provided workers for the agriculture labor market. The agricultural program, under various forms, survived until 1964, when the two governments ended it as a response to harsh criticisms and reports of human rights abuses. Agriculture ranks among the most hazardous industries. Farmer workers are at very high risk for fatal and nonfatal injuries. For more information on farm work, farmwork hazards and their controls, link to: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/aginjury/ and http://www.ncfh.org/aaf_03.php.
The faces of men and women in Hastings, Florida and the condemned houses and horrible conditions they are forced to live in. Most of these folks who pick the fruit and vegetables for the tables of America, are U.S. born African-American. Their lives are ruled by nefarious contractors who abuse them, steal from them and treat them like modern-day slaves.
Farmworkers are paying a price to put food on our tables. Excluded from labor laws, they face low wages, harsh working conditions, and a 48-year life expectancy. Shot in Oregon’s Willamette Valley agriculture belt, farmworkers, labor rights activists, and citizen protestors explore the plight of Oregon’s farmworkers, raise awareness of the exploitation of farmworkers nationwide, and highlight the U.S. agricultural system’s dependence on a steady flow of immigrant labor. In the School Library Journal, Leroy Hommerding says, The live-action footage and excellent aural quality will help to keep the audience’s attention. Justice on the Table is a good choice for school and public library collections where there is a need for information on the current immigrant experience.
Just a week before millions of Americans across the country sit down for their Thanksgiving feasts, Fair Food: Field to Table launches to tell the story of the nations farm workers, growers and advocates of fair food in their own voices, and promoting realistic solutions for a more socially-just US food system.
This is a clip from the upcoming documentary, Cesar’s Last Fast, a film about Cesar Chavez’s intense commitment to fighting for farm worker rights and the people who are carrying out that fight today. The project is directed by Richard Ray Perez, and produced by Richard Ray Perez and Molly O’Brien. It’s receiving support from the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Lear Family Foundation and the Morris and Alma Schapiro Foundation. To support the completion of this project, visit us at Facebook.com/cesarslastfast or CesarsLastFast.com.
(c) Luis Alejo. All Rights Reserved.
The effects of years of pesticide use on a farmworking community and on the environment. Geraldean Matthew helps to lift her fellow former Apopka Farmworkers, who are ill and impoverished, Out of the Muck.
Farmworkers Forum 
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