*[Enwl-eng] Help the Hands That Feed

[enwl]

Help the Hands That Feed

Tough days ahead for California Central Coast farmworkers.


                                News of the world environment

                                 NEWSLETTER | MARCH 17, 2023

















                                Helping Hands that Feed
                                Berries have been on my mind a lot lately. 
It started with a feature story I edited for our spring magazine about how 
Europe’s demand for year-round berries is fueling an ecological disaster in 
the arid southern reaches of Spain and Portugal as farmers suck aquifers 
dry. (Keep your eye out for the online version of the article, which we’ll 
be publishing later this month.) The story got me thinking about my own 
berry consumption, and what environmental footprint it might have, 
particularly in the off season. It even got me attempting to explain 
seasonality to my berry-loving toddler during a recent grocery store trip — 
albeit not successfully.

                                Soon after, a press release landed in my 
inbox announcing the Environmental Working Group’s annual Dirty Dozen list 
of produce most contaminated with pesticides. As has been the case for 
several years now, strawberries top the list of conventional fruits and 
vegetables with the highest pesticide load. This year, blueberries also 
joined them in the top 12. The list serves as a reminder that the chemicals 
we put on our crops impact not only the soil and water, but also our health.

                                And then, last weekend, the California 
farmworker community of Parajo suffered massive flooding when the Pajaro 
River levee broke following yet another heavy storm. The unincorporated area 
in Monterey County is known especially for its strawberry crops and is home 
to some 2,000, mostly low-income, farmworkers who had to evacuate in a 
hurry. The majority remain displaced, and many have lost their jobs since 
local fields are too waterlogged for growing. While aid and emergency 
supplies are flowing into the area, many of the farmworkers are 
undocumented, meaning they are not eligible for the same type of aid as US 
citizens.

                                This tragedy could have been avoided: 
Officials have known since as far back as the 1960s that the Pajaro levee 
was vulnerable, but chose not to act because they determined the costs of 
upgrading the levee outweighed the benefits of protecting a low-income 
farming community. (To learn more about the farmworkers' plight in Pajaro, 
tune into Journal Editor Maureen Nandini Mitra’s Terra Verde podcast.)

                                The through line here may be berries, but 
the takeaway for me is much deeper: It’s time to reckon with our broken food 
system. Where we grow our food matters. How we grow it matters. And how we 
treat those growing it matters most of all.


                                Zoe Loftus-Farren
                                Managing Editor, Earth Island Journal
                                Photo by Harold Litwiler




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                  From: Earth Island Journal
                  Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2023 3:44 AM
                  Subject: Help the Hands That Feed



 
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