As several other posts on this blog have mentioned, the COVID-19 pandemic could have drastic consequences for the food supply chain given social distancing restrictions? But what about the workers this leaves in the lurch?
There are more than 2.4 million farmworkers across the United States and most of them are undocumented. Considered essential workers, but not given the same protections as others and without health insurance, agricultural laborers are at a high risk of catching the virus and have been having trouble obtaining personal protective equipment.
A farmworker in Immokalee, Florida, waits aboard a crowded field bus for the pre-dawn drive to work on a local farm. Photo by Scott Robertson.
With over half a dozen cases in America’s “tomato capital,” and more on farms across the country, this will significantly limit some region’s ability to cultivate crops as workers will have a harder time recovering without health insurance and will likely be ostracized from work if they catch it.
It’s yet another example of how America, both politically and socially, is once again kicking migrants to the curb and turning a blind eye to foreseeable problems in favor of hoping things work out by continuing to exploit vulnerable populations.
While dollars from the stimulus package are going to many affected workers, undocumented laborers are getting none of it and who knows how much will be spent on occupational safety, according to the Food & Environment Reporting Network.
Obviously the world food system is just that: a system. And when one step in that system is forced to sputter, things can go off the rails. So they’ll probably regret this decision of inaction when the supply of fruits and vegetables from these farms suddenly aren’t as plentiful as the fields are under-staffed and overworked.
It’s good to see activists working on behalf of these silenced workers because otherwise this important story would once again not be told.
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This is super interesting. I think it’s also worth considering the impact that COVID-19 will have on families that are receiving remittances in home countries as migrant workers begin to fall ill and are unable to work. What implications will this have for other global economies? I found this NPR article particularly interesting: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/17/837111027/covid-19-is-cutting-into-vital-money-u-s-migrant-workers-send-back-home
Low incomes families are more vulnerable During the COVID 19 Pandemic
Although most of the low-income families and individuals are receiving SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) but still they are living in tough situations, where the COVID 19 Pandemic makes their life much harder than before. However, fortunately, the “Trump administration” recently allowed some states, that the SNAP receivers can order their groceries online, which is a move to decrease their exposure to the virus where the house democrats asked for the same conveniences of online SNAP shopping nationwide, but it is not approved yet. Due to the stay home order, millions of low-income families rely on SNAP and this number will increase if the coronavirus spread more. With the social distance orders in all levels of government, online food purchasing increased and it is supported by the government official. Purchasing of foods online helping to slow the spreading of coronavirus, Sonny Perdue agriculture secretary stated. As I mentioned, in the beginning, the SNAP receivers are low-income families, like the elderly and I will not be wrong to say that the independent or head of the household students that I’m one them. In most states, SNAP recipients are allowed to do online shopping, but the main challenge of online shoppers is the transportation cost, which is not covered by the SNAP. Based on the insider, “Online grocery shopping becomes available to a quarter of SNAP recipients,” the shopper can “pay at pickup” to reduce their time in the supermarket. But still, low-income families are very safe like high-income counterparts, the people who work at the supermarket preparing groceries, the driver who delivers to people’s door, are mostly low-income and vulnerable. The life example is, just two days ago I found that two of my friends were infected with coronavirus, where one was working in the restaurant preparing food and another was a Doordash driver who delivered food to the people’s doors. Likewise, there are many poor people in the entire country dealing with the same situation which is a huge issue nationwide and worldwide today.
Abbott, C. (n.d.). Online grocery shopping becoming available to a quarter of SNAP recipients. Retrieved from https://thefern.org/ag_insider/online-grocery-shopping-becoming-available-to-a-quarter-of-snap-recipients. 08/04/2020.