Food Insecure Farmworkers Rely on Food Banks to Feed Their Families
The story was co-published with Univision 19 as part of the 2024 Ethnic Media Collaborative, Healing California.
Elsa, a farmworker, says: If I don't work, I don't eat.
Univision 19
Glossary:
Nats: refers to ambience sounds.
Soundbite: a piece of an interview.
Bridge: reporters will be on camera.
Nats
Andrea: The clock hits 5 am…
Nats
The first rays of light peek through the almond trees.
Nats
Rashel: In the field, you can already hear the hammers of this crew of workers…
Awake before dawn… to feed the country…
Some are unsure if they’ll be able to bring the fruits they harvest to their own families.
Nats
Andrea: they work quickly and without stopping… all to get ahead of the triple-digit temperatures that by noon…
Nats
...not only threaten their wages but also their health…
[[soundbite/Elsa]]
Yes, well, we have to work for food for the house. If we don’t work, how? Because everything is very expensive, and we have to work here.
Elsa is a mother of a little girl… and without stopping to staple the hoses that water the almond trees, she told us that what she struggles the most with… is buying food.
[[soundbite/Elsa]]
Sometimes there’s nothing to eat. As parents, we always have to think about our children, whether we have or not, we have to figure out where we will get food to give to our children because we will never leave them without food or shelter.
Rashel: across the field, Marcelina is also hammering, worried about feeding her daughters…
Marcelina works in the fields worried about how to feed her daughter.
Univision 19
[[soundbite/Marcelina]]
It has been hard. My husband sometimes had to collect cans to get money for food. It’s difficult because we don’t always have work, like when it rains. There isn’t much work.
The average farmworker family earns a total of $25,000 to $30,000 per year, which includes both field work and any other sources of income, according to the national farm worker ministry.
This equals about $2,083 to $2,500 per month.
[[soundbite/Marcelina]]
Rent is $950, and it’s just a one-bedroom.
Andrea: if we subtract marcelina’s rent from that $2,083 monthly salary... About $1,113 is left to survive on...
Rashel: That’s in the second most expensive state in the united states.
Bridge
Andrea: The average household in california spends approximately $1,200 a month on food or almost $300 a week, according to the u.s. census bureau.
Rashel: and if we do a grocery run with a farmworker’s salary for a family of four...
We are already out of money for school supplies, health insurance, gas, or any other basic needs.
[[soundbite/elsa]]
Well, the truth is, what we earn in a day is not enough to do a big grocery shopping. It’s not enough.
[[soundbite/marcelina]]
What do I buy? The basics—sugar, beans, flour, what we need to make tortillas or lentils. You stick to the basics because you can’t afford more, like vegetables.
Andrea: Lacking regular access to enough nutritious and healthy food... That’s known as food insecurity.
[[soundbite/Doctor]]
Food security is a social factor that directly impacts health. It is the ability to access food that allows us to have a good nutritional status and adequate health, not just for one person but for the whole family.
California produces almost half of the country’s fruits and vegetables.
Rashel: But 1 in 5 californians currently can’t afford enough food.
(source: association of foodbanks)
[[soundbite/Doctor]]
Hispanic patients have to choose between healthy food and medication. That shouldn’t happen in this country. If a person is diabetic and can’t buy medicine, and they don’t get proper food, they will remain ill.
For marcelina, this goes beyond statistics and numbers… it’s a reality.
[[soundbite/marcelina]]
Because you think, you go with $20, and several people can eat. But if you want a healthier meal, you won’t manage with $20.
Andrea: at 1 pm, the temperature hits 100 degrees. By law, due to the high temperatures, the day must end earlier than planned.
Marcelina let us accompany her home…
Nats
Rashel: When she arrives, she leaves her boots and clothes outside to avoid bringing pesticides into the house, she says. She takes a shower and starts preparing dinner for herself and her daughters.
Nats/soundbite—I only have enough to make eggs with chorizo, she explains...
Andrea: Food insecurity affects farmworkers at higher rates than the general U.S. population, and it can increase their risk of suffering from several chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and obesity, particularly among women, according to this study.
[[soundbite/Doctor]]
Two phenomena occur here—difficult access to food and weight gain, obesity, kidney disease, or even cancer.
Rashel: To combat food insecurity… California created Calfresh, a food stamp program for low-income families to buy food.
Andrea: But there’s one requirement that 90% of farmworkers can’t meet… they need a social security number.
Rashel: So workers like Marcelina have to turn to food banks.
[[soundbite/Marcelina]]
Rashel: How much do you rely on them?
Marcelina: A lot, from the organizations that provide food, because we take home a box of food every time we go to work. We go, and that’s it.
Rashel: Out of this need… in contra costa county, Marivel founded the organisation hijas del campo to address farmworkers' needs.
[[soundbite/Marivel]]
The first thing they asked for was food, which was a huge irony for us because they are the ones who pick the food. Our people needed food.
They help over 500 families with food markets each month.
Nats
Andrea: Families that can’t afford their groceries and have no other alternative since they don’t qualify for state aid.
[[soundbite/Marivel]]
All the taxes they pay? Without receiving a benefit? It’s terrible...
Can you imagine a family of four without state benefits? Where do they go? Where do they seek information? Many times, people are afraid to go to different places because they don’t have papers...
A change, that’s what organizations like this, along with farmworkers, are asking for...
Healthy food is more expensive, and Marcelina is not able to afford fresh fruits and vegetables
Univision 19
[[soundbite/Marcelina]]
Yes, I always think farm workers should be paid more. Maybe other jobs are hard too, but this is where the food comes from. If there are no farmworkers, where will the food come from?
Rashel: Activists in the food4all coalition have fought to remove the requirement of a social security number to access food stamps.
Governor Gavin newsom approved extending food benefits with the CFAP program for undocumented immigrants over 55.
Andrea: But due to a state budget deficit… the implementation has been delayed.
[[soundbite/Marcelina]]
There are times when you want to eat something more, like fish or shrimp, which is a bit more expensive, and you cannot buy them.
Although their children can receive calfresh benefits, the farmworkers themselves remain excluded, which activists say highlights a gap in the safety net for a vital group in california’s agricultural sector.
[[soundbite/Marivel]]
Out there, farmworkers are sweating... Without a benefit, and we’re saying at least support us with food...
Rashel: Despite the difficulties, the heat, the stress, the injuries...
Nats
They are there…
Hammering away at adversities… clinging to faith...
Andrea: Hoping that at the end of the day, it’s enough to support their families.
That some, out of necessity, might carry into their old age.
Nats
This project was supported by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, and is part of "Healing California", a yearlong reporting Ethnic Media Collaborative venture with print, online and broadcast outlets across California.
