Over the past year, I have reported on crimes against farmworkers who came to the United States legally from Mexico and Central America. Over the past year, I have reported on crimes against farmworkers who came to the United States legally from Mexico and Central America. I never stopped to think about how they suffered. Wages were taken away, guns were held in the face, and one woman I met was captured, raped, and almost killed. I never stopped to think about how they suffered. Wages were taken away, guns were held in the face, and one woman I met was captured, raped, and almost killed.
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There were other things I couldn’t help but think about as I wrote these stories. That’s what I always think about. Every time I go to the grocery store, there’s no easy way to tell if the fruits and vegetables I put in my cart are part of the problems I’ve documented.
Video taken by Javier Sánchez Mendoza, a labor contractor, at a blueberry farm in 2018. Mr. Mendoza was indicted federally and pleaded guilty to complicity in forced labor. Via Facebook
I eat a lot of blueberries, which happen to be the most grown fruit in Georgia, where I live, and the state where I tracked these abuses. On long drives back and forth between my home in Atlanta and reporting trips to the rural South, I had a lot of time to think about how little we know about the farms that feed us.
Max Blau/ProPublica
I struggled with the disconnect between the problems of American farms and the limited awareness of those problems in most American families. I felt that disconnect in my own kitchen every time I reached for the berries in the fridge.
I wanted to know, if I dig deep enough, is it possible to determine if the blueberries I’m buying come from a farm with a record of mistreating its workers?
Federal regulators do not require blueberry brands to disclose information on packages about the individual farms they buy from. So we had to spend a lot of time understanding it.
I started by observing the labels of blueberry pints at the grocery store.
I took a photo. I looked into the brand. I read the government records.
Max Blau/ProPublica
If you look closely, the pints often list the state where the berries are grown and the city they are shipped from. But not the farm itself.
Mauricio Rodriguez Pons/ProPublica
After all, the pints sold by a particular brand aren’t necessarily sourced from a single farm. To meet demand and keep prices low, the brand buys berries from numerous farms and sells them under a single label.
Illustration by Andrew B. Myers for ProPublica
That makes it even harder to know if the berries you’re buying come from a farm where workers have been harmed.
We were able to trace a brand of berries from the grocery store to individual farms. However, I won’t name the brand because its practices are far from unique. We were able to trace a brand of berries from the grocery store to individual farms. However, I won’t name the brand because its practices are far from unique. Sure enough, it turns out that the brand buys its berries from farms that employ labor contractors who were responsible for some of the abuses in one of America’s largest human trafficking prosecutions. Sure enough, it turns out that the brand buys its berries from farms that employ labor contractors who were responsible for some of the abuses in one of America’s largest human trafficking prosecutions.
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I have written at length about this case, which revealed that thousands of foreign agricultural workers were being illegally charged by labor contractors to work in the United States. Some people were forced to harvest crops for little or no pay, in what prosecutors described as a form of modern-day slavery.
This was not the first case of mistreatment of farm workers by labor contractors. Or the last. Many of these harms could have been prevented if workers had received the protections promised by the U.S. government. And there have been no substantive reforms to address abuse.
Federal prosecutors presented photographic evidence of housing provided by the defendants to farm workers. In documents obtained by ProPublica, federal agents seized a large number of passports allegedly confiscated from farm workers by the defendants. Retrieved from ProPublica
The reason contractors exist in the first place is because farmers in the United States have a hard time finding workers.
Many farmers only speak English. So they hire contractors to bring foreign workers to the United States and oversee their work.
Outsourcing protects farmers from liability or knowledge of harm to workers.
Labor regulators have repeatedly failed to ensure that contractors do what the government requires: keeping workers safe and paying promised wages.
Many farmers, brands, and grocery stores were reluctant to tell me about these abuses. I asked experts if there was a way for consumers to know if the people who pick their blueberries are being abused. Many farmers, brands, and grocery stores were reluctant to tell me about these abuses. I asked experts if there was a way for consumers to know if the people who pick their blueberries are being abused.
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These experts, who study farm working conditions and food supply chains, said fair food programs are the gold standard for preventing worker abuse. Under the program, supermarkets and other corporate buyers are committed to paying a little more for produce, but the cost is so small, a few pennies per pound, that some experts say they shouldn’t gouge prices.
For their pennies, grocery stores get their crops from farms that offer strong protection to their workers.
Pacific Tomato Growers is one of dozens of farms participating in the Fair Food Program, which protects workers from abuse and exploitation. ProPublica’s Audra Melton
Fruits and vegetables grown at these farms are labeled with a green sticker of a woman holding a basket of tomatoes. This sticker gives consumers like me a clear signal that the workers who harvested their produce are being treated fairly.
When you find these tomatoes at the grocery store, they aren’t much more expensive than other tomatoes without labels.
Mauricio Rodriguez Pons/ProPublica
Dozens of farms have signed on to the Fair Food Program, and participation is proven to prevent on-farm abuse.
However, only a few small blueberry farms participate in this program.
Until that or something changes, consumers will know virtually nothing about the farms where their blueberries are produced. And they are no longer able to make choices that could make a difference in the lives of those who chose them.
Throughout our coverage of this series, ProPublica reached out to more than 75 blueberry brands, grocery stores, fast food chains, farmers, industry organizations, and labor contractors.
Only one brand responded. Dole wrote in a statement that it requires its contract farmers to comply with labor laws to protect the “welfare of its workers.” Dole added that while berries can be traced back to the farm where they came from, that information is not provided to consumers.
ProPublica also contacted more than 30 of the nation’s largest grocery and fast food chains to ask why they are not participating in the Fair Food Program or expanding their limited participation. No companies responded to questions about the program.
More than 20 industry groups declined to say why so few farmers are participating in the program. Some oppose regulators’ efforts to enact the kind of protections the program requires. They said the changes would “strain the entire industry for a few bad apples” that ignored workers’ rights.
