The World's Green Gold: Part III – Novel Hand

So far in this series we have looked into the avocado’s history (how it is produced and how it became popular in the US), as well as its environmental impact. In this article, we’ll take a look at one of the driving forces of the industry – the workers.

There’s no way that we can take care of and pick our crops without immigrant labor.
Ellen Brokaw, a ranch owner in Ventura County

Problems in the Golden State

Long hours in the hot sun picking avocados for a starting pay of $12 to $13 an hour is the harsh reality for many avocado pickers. Most pickers are immigrants, specifically undocumented immigrants. The anti-immigrant rhetoric disseminated by former President Trump expressed the idea that undocumented immigrants have taken jobs from U.S.-born workers, but the fact of the matter is that many U.S.-born workers are not looking for the types of jobs that undocumented immigrants are working. Ellen Brokaw, a ranch owner in Ventura County, described how she advertises her available farm work positions to the U.S.-born workers as well, saying, “Sometimes some people apply, but almost never do any of them stay.”

It is, in fact, the undocumented workers that stay and work these positions. They work for low wages to support their families, but even on a global scale they support a whole industry and workforce. Nine percent of California’s labor force is unauthorized immigrants, and undocumented labor is worth more than $180 billion a year to California’s economy. Due to these workers’ lack of documentation to be in the U.S., they most often settle for the wages given to them in low-paying industries like the avocado industry.

In 2015, many workers in the agricultural sector were earning an average of $17,500 annually – which was 60 percent less than the average annual wage. Still, this average annual wage is highly dependent on a variety of factors like how much they pick in a day and how often they work in a year.

In addition, the lack of documentation raises fears when it comes to holding employers accountable for proper work environments and being paid on time. Many workers fear deportation if they report any concerns to their employers. Employer retaliation has risen over recent years, with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office receiving ninety-four immigration-related retaliation claims in 2017, while in 2016 the office had only received eighty-four claims and seven in 2015.

The recent strict border enforcement has significantly decreased the labor pool for more avocado pickers in California. Not enough laborers has led to a shortage of avocados, and the issues faced by workers in Mexico has only exacerbated this problem.

“The answer should not be to exploit that person but to pay that person lawfully. And I think that that ultimately creates better wages for everybody.” – Mar Martinez, coordinator of the Garment Workers Center

Parallels with Mexico

The workers harvesting in the Michoacan state have similar experiences to California laborers, such as little pay and poor working conditions. These poor working conditions include no health care benefits and the dangers of gang activity. Many workers expressed dissatisfaction with their conditions through labor strikes. At one point in 2018, 70 percent of Michoacan’s orchards were on strike (more than 24,000 workers).

The protests have profound effects on the industry by slowing down picking and transporting. In 2016, after a series of worker strikes, only about 13 million pounds of avocado was transported from Mexico to the U.S. (typically 40 million pounds on average were transported in a week).

In addition, the impact of gang activity has threatened the lives of employees. In August 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended its avocado inspection program after some of its employees received threats. These threats came after a farm’s certification was cancelled.

Juan Madrigal Miranda, a 72-year-old professor who heads a nature center in Uruapan, said, “Around the country, the cartels want land, forest, and water. Now they are fighting for the keys to life.”

Cartels have more control over resources like gold mines and supermarket pricing of goods. The massive control that cartels have is, in part, due to the ties they have to people who are in positions of power. In 2014, Sergio Guerrero – then president of the Association of Avocado Producers and Packers of Michoacan – was ousted for communicating with the leader of the Caballeros Templarios gang. Cartel control is deep-rooted in the avocado industry.

There haven’t been improvements to the conditions that many avocado laborers are forced to endure. That begs the question: as consumers, how do our actions contribute to the mistreatment of workers and gang activity? What can we do to ensure that our money is not feeding into this industry, without also compromising avocado laborers and the responsibilities they have to their families? Potential solutions and more will be analyzed in next Monday’s Impactfull article.