04_001

Border

2001, 1999

Half the nation's vegetables and fruits are grown in California, including 85% of the strawberries and 95% of the tomatoes in processed foods.

04_002

Lettuce

2002, 2001

Minimum wage: US$6.75/hour
Romaine Lettuce in market: US$1.39/head
Caesar salad in restaurant: US$7.50.

Legend has it the Caesar was created in 1924 by Italian chef Caesar Cardini at a restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico.

04_003

Garlic

2000, 2002

California garlic workers get about $8/hour on piece rate. Wholesale, California garlic is $38-$40 for a 30 pound carton.

The California garlic industry is at a crossroads due to global economic changes, soil depletion and high land costs.

04_004

Asparagus

2002, 2001

California outlawed the short handled hoe years ago, but not during harvesting.

Asparagus in market: US$3.89/pound,
wage for CA. picker: US$6.75/hour

04_005

Garage family

2002, 1997

According to the California Institute For Rural Studies, there is a substantial labor surplus in CA. agriculture with a related decline in wage rates and a larger drop in annual income.

Most farm workers are young, averaging 6 years of formal education. They earn about $6500/year, and use few government services. Forty percent are migrants rather than year- round employees.

04_006

Homeless

2002, 1992

For more than a decade farmworkers' real income has fallen. Employers have stopped providing housing and transportation either as benefits or at reduced rates. Increasingly workers camp in the fields, live in cars and homeless shelters or in groups renting a motel room, apartment or home.

04_007

Pistachios

1999, 2002

California's current pistachio acreage totals 101,500 acres with 78,000 bearing acres and 23,500 non-bearing. Estimated 2002 harvest 280 million pounds.

About 50% of the California pistachio crop is exported, mostly to China, Japan, Europe and Canada.

Pistachios in market: US$2.99/pound
Wage for CA. picker: US$6.75/hour

04_008

Pomegranates

1999

Brought to the New World by Spanish missionaries after Cortez conquered Mexico in 1521, the pomegranate went north with the missionaries as they searched for new converts.

Long a religious and artistic symbol, the pomegranate symbolizes fertility, death and eternity.

Fresno, CA. Pomegranate picker.
Average production: 5 to 6 tons per acre.

04_009R

Cotton

1999, 2002

From a study by International Cotton Advisory Committee: U.S. cotton farmers received subsidies worth $2.1 billion in 2001. The subsidies allow U.S. growers a worldwide price advantage depressing prices to a 30 year old low of 42 cents/pound, halving the incomes of many developing country's producers.

From Wall Street Journal, 26 June, 2002:
"U.S. aid to Mali for social programs: $40 million/year. Cotton is nearly 1/2 the country's export revenue and faces a $30 million deficit this year with a 10% reduction in income to Mali cotton farmers."