Hardship on Mexico’s Farms, a Bounty for U.S. Tables

December 21st, 2014

This Los Angeles Times series looks and reads like distopian sci-fi. High tech green houses stretch across the land to the horizon. Workers exist in abject squalor. Or are they slaves? It depends on the the facility and the arbitrary whims of the crooks in charge. (View the image galleries, if you dare.)

And when you think you’ve seen it all, wait for the coup de grâce: Some workers wind up in debt to the company store.

This is a bad one; definitely among the worst I’ve ever posted here. And Americans are filling their bellies with it.

There are four parts to the series. The link below is to part one.

Via: Los Angeles Times:

The tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers arrive year-round by the ton, with peel-off stickers proclaiming “Product of Mexico.”

Farm exports to the U.S. from Mexico have tripled to $7.6 billion in the last decade, enriching agribusinesses, distributors and retailers.

American consumers get all the salsa, squash and melons they can eat at affordable prices. And top U.S. brands — Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, Subway and Safeway, among many others — profit from produce they have come to depend on.

These corporations say their Mexican suppliers have committed to decent treatment and living conditions for workers.

But a Los Angeles Times investigation found that for thousands of farm laborers south of the border, the export boom is a story of exploitation and extreme hardship.

Research Credit: ottilie

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