MAGA Grapes of Wrath

American farmers are in find out season

Photo by Lê Tân on Unsplash

So, American farmers are in find out season.

I’m so here for it.

An ad from a temp agency recruiting on behalf of a blueberry farm in Louisiana went viral on social media recently. The ad made it sound like the people who applied to pick blueberries would be living the high life. As if working 9–10 hours per day making $11 an hour doing backbreaking work in the hot Louisiana sun, without any days off, is living a sweet life. Those conditions are barely a step up from slavery.

For one thing, the $11 an hour wage is a joke for the backbreaking labor required to do that job. It isn’t even minimum wage in the state I live in.

For another thing, my great-grandparents and grandparents did similar work as sharecroppers in South Carolina. They did backbreaking work in the relentless heat for a pittance, on land they weren’t allowed to own. My grandparents were the last generation in my family that did that kind of work. They certainly did not wish any of their descendants to follow in their footsteps.

The ad was taken down by the temp agency after people criticized it online. American farmers are now facing a severe labor shortage because their entire industry is built on the labor of undocumented workers. This labor shortage will lead to food…