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Justice Issues Facing Family-Scale Farmers and Their Laborers in the Northeastern United States

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Justice Issues Facing Family-Scale Farmers and Their Laborers in the Northeastern United States Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development ISSN: 2152-0801 online www.AgDevJournal.com Justice issues facing family-scale farmers and their laborers in the Northeastern United States Becca Berkey a * Northeastern University Tania Schusler b Loyola University Chicago Submitted September 20, 2015 / Revised December 15, 2015, and January 12, 2016 / Accepted January 12, 2016 / Published online March 21, 2016 Citation: Berkey, B., & Schusler, T. (2016). Justice issues facing family-scale farmers and their laborers in the Northeastern United States. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 6(2), 243–267. http://dx.doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2016.062.017 Copyright © 2016 by New Leaf Associates, Inc. Abstract what unique justice issues they face. The survey This study investigates how justice-related issues results indicate that most of the farms within the affect farmers and workers on organic farms in the network are small-scale and rely heavily on family northeastern United States. At the study’s core is members and volunteers for labor. Many of the an examination of the current context of laborers justice issues related to labor arise from the in organic agriculture in the U.S. Northeast. The difficulties these farmers experience achieving study analyzes the results of an online survey of financial viability. This study increases Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) understanding of the broader systemic context farmer members to gather information about who within which small-scale organic farmers make labors on organic farms in the NOFA network and their commitments and decisions, and it illustrates how the justice-related experiences of both farmers and workers are affected by participation as small- a * Corresponding author: Becca Berkey, Ph.D., Director of scale organic farms in the larger agricultural system. Service-Learning; Research Associate, Northeastern Environmental Justice Research Collaborative; Faculty Affiliate, Northeastern Consortium on Food Systems Keywords Sustainability, Health and Equity; Northeastern University; organic farming, Northeastern United States, farm 360 Huntington Avenue, 232YMC; Boston, Massachusetts labor, small-scale agriculture, family-scale 02115 USA; +1-617-373-5840; [email protected] agriculture, family farms, farmworkers b Tania Schusler, Ph.D., Lecturer and Solutions to Environmental Problems (STEP) Coordinator; Institute of Introduction and Literature Review Environmental Sustainability; Loyola University Chicago. In conventional farming, much justice-related Volume 6, Issue 2 / Winter 2015–2016 243 Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development ISSN: 2152-0801 online www.AgDevJournal.com research focuses on pesticide use and its effects on be considered a population marginalized within the worker health (e.g. Moses, 1989; Oxfam America, larger political-economic landscape of U.S. 2004; Reeves, Katten, & Guzmán, 2002; agriculture. Sologaistoa, 2011), as well as effects of immigration Who are these farmers and workers on small- policies and the exploitation of immigrants due to scale organic farms in the northeastern U.S.? It conventional agriculture’s reliance on workers from turns out that the answer is not easily uncovered. outside the United States (e.g. Stephen, 2003; The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Taylor, 1992; Wilson & Portes, 1980). In addition National Agricultural Statistics Service’s (NASS) to pesticide exposure and exploitation of immi- 2014 Census of Agriculture Organic Production grant farmworkers, many farmworkers experience a Survey counted 14,048 organic farms and ranches host of other injustices, including substandard in the United States, totaling 3.67 million acres housing, that pose further environmental health (1.49 million hectares) of land (USDA NASS, risks (Arcury, Wiggins, & Quandt, 2009). Arcury, 2015). Of those farms, 12,595 were USDA certified Wiggins, and Quandt state that in the eastern organic and 1,453 were exempt from certification United States, (USDA NASS, 2015). That survey also found that California leads the nation with more than 687,000 Although farmworkers experience high rates acres (278,000 ha) harvested on certified or exempt of occupational and environmental injury farms (USDA NASS, 2015). California is followed and illness, few programs and regulations by Montana, with organic growers harvesting more have been designed to help reduce these than 317,000 acres (128,000 hectares) (USDA outcomes. Farmworkers and their families in NASS, 2015). Wisconsin, Oregon, and New York the eastern US seldom have health insurance, follow with more than 200,000 acres (81,000 ha) of and many of them have limited access to organic field crops harvested in each (USDA health care. The few efforts to reduce NASS, 2015). According to the 2012 Census of farmworker injury and illness seldom Agriculture, nationally 88 percent of all farms fall consider the culture and educational under the USDA definition of a small farm, which attainment of farmworkers or the effects of a is an operation that sells less than US$250,000 in migratory lifestyle. Long-term consequences agricultural products annually (USDA NASS, of occupational and environmental 2014). exposures are virtually unknown. (2009, p. While these reports offer a useful snapshot of 223) organic agriculture nationally, including who works on different types of farms and farm types pre- While pesticide exposure is not a primary dominant in different regions of the country, they concern in organic agriculture, the economic justice offer little decisive information that tells the story issues facing organic farmers and workers in the of farmers and laborers on organic farms in the northeastern U.S. are consistent with many of the northeastern United States. With this in mind, we challenges faced in conventional agriculture, such sought to understand who these farmers and as inadequate pay, lack of housing, intense market laborers are and what justice-related challenges and competition, and health-related problems due to supports they experience. We conducted this the strenuous nature of the work. However, the research in collaboration with the Northeast reasons for these issues may differ in the organic Organic Farming Association (NOFA) to address farming sector. In small-scale organic farming, the the question: How do various justice-related issues issues largely come from a lack of systemic infra- (including competition in the market, pay, housing, and structure within which the farmers themselves can health) affect farmers and farmworkers on organic farms in make enough income to support and enact their the northeastern U.S.? values of justice and sustainability (Berkey, 2014; NOFA is a coalition of seven state chapters Shreck, Getz, & Feenstra, 2006). Thus small-scale whose purpose is “to advocate for and educate on organic agriculture and its farmers and laborers can organic and sustainable agriculture, family-scale 244 Volume 6, Issue 2 / Winter 2015–2016 Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development ISSN: 2152-0801 online www.AgDevJournal.com farming and homesteading in rural, suburban and Applied Research Methods urban areas, agricultural justice and other related policy issues” (NOFA, n.d., para. 1). In Survey Design and Administration conversation with the NOFA Interstate Council, The survey was co-developed with input from the which serves as the board of the NOFA chapters’ NOFA Interstate Council, which is one of the coalition, we designed a mixed-methods study groups involved with steering the direction of the (Berkey, 2014) to both answer the research ques- organization and implementing any changes (in tion and inform NOFA’s program and policy policy and/or training) seen as necessary based on activities. In this paper, we share a portion of that the findings. Parts of the survey mirrored a survey study: The results of a survey of NOFA farmer conducted by the nonprofit organization Florida members, which deepen understanding of who Organic Growers, which was funded by a Southern labors on organic farms in the northeastern U.S., Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education the justice-related issues they face, and the political- grant, offering the possibility of comparable data economic context in which these issues occur. This collected from the two regions. understanding can help inform coalition-building The survey included 36 items asking questions through organizations like NOFA toward trans- about the market for organic products, including forming the political-economic landscape of U.S. where farmers sell their products, and issues they agriculture and increasing justice for small-scale encounter (if any) with their major buyers, pay for organic farmers and their workers. We will use the workers, housing, attitudes toward policies such as term “Northeast” throughout this article in refer- Unemployment Insurance thresholds, membership ence to the northeastern region of the United in organizations like NOFA, and benefits farmers States, consisting of the seven states in which derive from those memberships. In addition, the NOFA operates: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New survey asked about farmers’ values and practices Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, related to farming organically, such as whether they and Vermont. do so because it is a family tradition, whether they Before continuing, it is essential to clarify the uphold ideals about the environment, etc. The language we use to describe
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