America’s Agriculture and its Corrupt Ideals and Foundation
According to the article, “Immigrant Farmworkers and America’s Food Production: 5 Things to Know” from fwd.us approximately seventy three percent of agriculture workers today were born outside of the United State and are essentially immigrants. Yet is there not such a major concern of immigrants entering the country even though they seem to be the backbone of agriculture in America.
This is one of many issues that the field of Agriculture faces. Though this field is one of the most important structural components of allowing life to thrive in America it is also one of the most hated and controversial fields out there. I can attest to many of these attributes as both of my parents have worked in the agriculture field for the past twenty plus years and I have witnessed firsthand the multitude of issues they continuously face whether in their work environment or issues within the field in general.
The COVID-19 Pandemic was a significant obstacle that farmers had to face and re-strategize on how they would move forward. The primary issue was that many of the workers were falling ill to the virus and due to their poor and claustrophobic/populated work environments it allowed for this virus and any other viruses to spread exponentially across the country and affiliated lands. Also, due to the pandemic many American citizens were facing financial struggles resulting in the economy leading to a catastrophic crash ultimately impacting the livelihoods and business for farmers.
The agriculture economic system is construed and is associated with many similar issues that reside within our general economic system. The rich prevail while the poor suffer. According to editor Michael Fakhri’s article: “The US food system creates hunger and debt — but there is another way” Fakhri states that “Four companies dominate the global agrochemical/seed market: Dupont, Bayer (which recently acquired Monsanto), Chemchina (which recently acquired Syngenta), and BASF.” These four companies essentially contain the top percentage of wealthy individuals and corporations within the agriculture field and the popular issue within America seems to prevail: The rich become richer while the poor stay poor.
During the pandemic wages for farm workers began to increase as farmers were desperate for workers and agriculture employees became considered essential workers. This in turn led to farming corporations to increase their product costs to cover the costs of the increased wages, however this led to less feasible and affordable access to food for the majority of Americans only increasing the gap between the rich and poor significantly.
Farming has changed from its prehistoric roots of gathering and harvesting food to feed and support the population to a money mongering and land conquering game. More and more chemicals and pesticides are being infused into our food and this combined with the domination of nature along with a system driven by a logic of economic efficiency and industrial productivity, has caused long term damage to human, animal, and environmental health. It can only make one wonder, what (if any) wide-scale problems the agricultural field pose that should be immediately addressed.
How could agriculture workers be benefited and properly rewarded for the service and work they provide? Should companies be allowed to increase their product prices to cover the costs of increased wages? Do you believe allowing companies to do so contradicts and negates the policy of increased wages as it would essentially provide no advantage to increase wages if product prices increase themselves which in turn require the extra money earned to be spent on food? What is your take on the agricultural system in America.
