A Life of Work

Children of migrant farm laborers are working right alongside their parents.  They can be found harvesting, tending younger siblings, attempting to catch up on school work and striving to maintain their physical health.  Their life is work.

The crops migrant children help harvest include berries, cucumbers, squash, apples, peaches, beets, onions, melons, corn, beans, peppers, chilies, tomatoes, citrus, sweet potatoes, tobacco, and Christmas trees (Kelly).  Typically, farmworkers are paid at piece rate wage the faster they work the more money they can make.  Since children do not work as fast as adults, they tend to make about two or three dollars an hour (Child Labor in Agriculture).  According to the agriculture labor laws those who hand harvest are exempt from being paid any overtime.  There are time restraints put in place, a child under the age of sixteen is limited to only 44 hours of work each week, but anyone over sixteen can work up to 60 hours (Background). 

Those children who are too young to work in the field are often times required to care for younger siblings.  The Association of Farmworkers Opportunity Programs hold an art and essay contest each year, the winning essay of 2018 was written by Emily Camacho, she tells of how when she was only three weeks old her eight-year-old sister changed her diaper in the backseat of the car.  This is not uncommon, according to Kelly, there are many children who accompany their parents to the field, playing close by or waiting in the car. 

Another place a migrant child has to work hard is in school.  Being a migrant farmworker means that they leave their primary place of residence to follow the harvest of crops moving two-three times a year (Moesle & Forti).  The migration begins in May causing migrant children to miss the end of school exams.  The harvest season does not end until November, and so migrant children begin school in another state before returning to their home school.  Unfortunately, schools have a varying curriculum and the migrant child often times are confused and fall behind making it nearly impossible to catch up to their peers (Child Labor in Agriculture).  According to Moesle and Forti, only 55% of farmworker children complete high school. 

The final way migrant children work harder is for their own health and well-being.  When harvesting tobacco, pickers can get nicotine poisoning, because of this some countries have begun to ban children from working in tobacco fields currently, the US has not (Child Labor in Agriculture).  A fungal infection known as Valley Fever is caused when dust containing fungal spores is kicked up and inhaled.  This can cause serious illness or death. Working so closely and constantly with pesticides can cause birth defects, childhood cancers, and developmental disorders (Moesle & Forti).

 

The life of a child as a migrant farmworker is not a life many would choose.  Unfortunately, they don’t get a choice.

Works Cited

 “Background Brief on Farmworker Labor”. The State of Oregon. Sept 2012.

https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/citizen_engagement/Reports/FarmworkerLabor.pdf

“Child Labor in Agriculture”. National Center for Farmworker Health, Inc. 2018

http://www.ncfh.org/uploads/3/8/6/8/38685499/fs-child_labor2018.pdf

Camacho, E. “Children in the Fields Essay”.  Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs.

2018. https://afop.org/cif/#tab-id-5

Kelly, V. “Sowing the Seeds of Change: A Snapshot of Child Labor in America”. Association of

Farmworker Opportunity Programs. 2012 W.K. Kellogg Foundation.  https://afop.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sowing-the-Seeds-of-Change.pdf

Moesle, K. & Forti, M. “Children In the Fields: The Facts You Should Know”. Association of

Farmworker Opportunity Programs. 2018 W.K. Kellogg Foundation. https://afop.org/wp-

content/uploads/2018/04/CIFC-Publication-Final-1.29.18.pdf