Are You Buying Tomatoes Picked by Slaves?

Meal Monday

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is visit u-pick farms and farmers markets. All year, I look forward to those big Jersey beefsteak tomatoes. Thickly sliced, with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper, and some fresh basil, they are summer on a plate.

A couple of years ago, my husband and I were singing the praises of local produce to friends, and one of them said: “But, the fruits and vegetables at the farmers market are so expensive!” I momentarily felt like a sucker, until I reminded myself that I believe in supporting small local farmers for a whole host of reasons (not to mention the vastly superior taste of freshly picked fruits and vegetables).

This is the problem: we question why produce locally grown by small farmers is so expensive, not why supermarket produce is so cheap. Why are we not asking these questions: Is the food grown in a sustainable way? Are the workers paid a living wage?

Back in March, Gourmet magazine ran a phenomenal article by Gary Estabrook, “The Politics of the Plate: The Price of Tomatoes.” (see also the follow-up piece) According to Estabrook, “if you have eaten a tomato this winter, chances are very good that it was picked by person who lives in virtual slavery.”

The article focuses on the plight of tomato pickers in Immokalee, Florida, the “tomato capital of the United States.” Estabrook estimates that as much as 90 percent of domestically grown tomatoes come from Florida, with Immokalee being the home to many of the tomato pickers.

It is also, “ground zero for modern slavery,” according to Douglas Molloy, a Fort Myers-based U.S. attorney involved in prosecuting cases involving involuntary servitude. More than a thousand individuals have been freed from involuntary servitude in Florida in the past ten years, and Molloy told Estabrook that many more “hide from us in plain sight,” too afraid to come forward.  When Estabrook asked Molloy if it is “reasonable to assume that an American who has eaten a fresh tomato from a grocery store or food-service company during the winter has eaten fruit picked by the hand of a slave,” Molloy replied: “It is not an assumption. It is a fact.”

Estabrook’s article outlines the harsh working conditions and meager wages for migrant farm laborers in Florida and the efforts of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to improve the lot of tomato pickers. It is a riveting story.

At the end of the article, Estabrook provides some advice for readers. In the winter, you can buy tomatoes from Whole Foods, which has signed on to CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food. In other supermarkets, Estabrook advises checking country of origin. According to CIW, working conditions in Mexico are worse than in Florida, so this is not a good alternative to Florida tomatoes.

But, what about the summer? “Buy seasonal, local, and small scale,” says Estabrook. You know, like my local farmer’s market.

Interested in CIW’s Fair Food Campaign? Go to their website.

Want to read more about this topic? Google books has an online copy of The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today, by Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter. See chapter 3, Slaves in the Pasture of Plenty, p. 43, for a discussion of Immokalee.

 

Comments

[Katherine]

I admit, I sometimes feel like a sucker buying expensive farmer's market produce. Thank you for articulating the very rational argument for why I am not -- and why it's worth it to pay more for locally grown food that I can feed my children in good conscience.

[Joe]

In case you didn't realize, everything on this Earth is made by slaves, regardless of where it comes from. You yourself are a slave, though you don't recognize it. We are all debt bondage slaves. Did you know that every dollar you earn must be repaid WITH interest? All the money in circulation exists because it is borrowed from someone by the government then spent into circulation. Actually, to call ourselves slaves would be a step up from our present condition. A slave merely works for a master without pay but in our condition not only do we work without pay (because all the money we earn must be repaid) but we actually pay our masters for our enslavement (the interest). To make it more complicated, we can never get away from our enslavement because there is never enough money in circulation to pay back the debt. When money is borrowed, all we get is the principal. When we pay it back, we pay back the principal plus interest but where do we get the interest from? We don't. The interest merely accumulates as ever larger loans must be taken out to repay the old ones. You don't see it in your daily life because you are blinded to your enslavement by work, having to make ends meet, shopping, entertainment, anything to keep your mind occupied so you don't have time to think or you would see everything clearly. Your enslavement occurs at the government level as it racks up an ever increasing debt load as it continues to borrow and spend. You think your taxes go to pay for government services? Wrong. Your taxes go to pay off old loans while the government takes out new loans to pay for services which must be repaid in future years. People need to be woken up to their condition so they can fight it.