Seminar Week 4

Jessica Herrera

SOS: ComAlt

Seminar Pre-Writing Week 4

25 April 2017

Word Count: 432

Passages:

“ But even a completely revamped system won’t deal with one of the biggest problems with enforcing pesticide regulations in the state: The vast majority of the workers who are exposed to pesticides on the job do not report the incident. Lacking medical insurance, pickers are often reluctant to go to doctors because of the cost, and without legal documentation, they go to great lengths to avoid speaking to government officials.” (Estabrook 2012: 43)

“ …the new Farm Bill should explicitly protect the rights of all food system workers regardless of their immigration status and protect them from fear of losing their jobs of deportation.” , “A just and democratic food system is not simply the end goal. Rather, it is also a strategic means to challenge the structures that impede the possibility of a just life for all peoples in every domain of life.” (Elsheikh 2016: 6,7)

“ I would use up all the food experimenting and she would never fuss. I know realize how uptight it must have put her cause we were so poor and every bit of food counted. My mother is a remarkable woman.” (Smart-Grosvenor 2011: 33)

News Media Source:

“Perdue’s main task over the coming year will be working with Congress and coordinating his department’s input on the next five-year farm bill. Current farm policy expires next year, and lawmakers on the House and Senate agriculture committees will have to find a way to push it through Congress amid heightened partisan tensions and concerns over spending.”

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/04/24/us/politics/ap-us-trump-agriculture-secretary.html

Discussion:

I read the segment in Tomatoland after reading the Food First article. The passage from Estabrook stood out to me because it speaks to the way that different parts of a system work together to create the outcome that exists- good or bad. Reading Tomatoland, I was able to process and ruminate more on the idea of commodification. What does the commodification of an object do to that object? The tomato is such a good example because the commoditized product is such a shadow of a tomato in its full potential in terms of taste and experience. It is literally a watered down version of the original. The above passage in particular, discuses one of the negative outcomes of this commodity: the trap that many undocumented farm workers find themselves in.

Workers that are exposed to pesticides will often risk their health because of high medical costs and fear of being fired of deported. It is so frustrating that people live through these extreme and terrible conditions because they need money. They do not feel as though they do not have another choice. And the product that all of this energy is spent producing isn’t even good.

In the Food First article, Elsheikh acknowledges that the food system is just one part within a larger economic/political syste. Justice in the food system is one step closer to equity in general. I liked the way that Elsheikh called out issues directly and presented their ideal plan of action. The issue of deportation of food workers, for example, should be confronted directly within the Farm Bill.

In Vibration Cooking, Vertamae describes a memory that as an adult, she is able to interpret differently than when she lived it as a child.  Her mother would let her experiment with cooking projects even though they didn’t really have the food to spare. The gratitude for her mother seeps through in this passage. It made me think of memories with my mom and the things that she, as a single mom, sacrificed for me.

The article from NPR speaks in particular to the Food First reading. Perdue, as the new Secretary of Agriculture, will have a say over what makes it into the next farm bill. I doubt his priorities are the same as Elsheikh’s.

This week’s readings had theme of systems thinking. Who are the players? Farm workers, farmer owners, policy makers, advocates, government officials etc. What are their roles? Externalities? It’s important to try to step back and observes how the different players are working together (or against each other) and what affect that has.