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Table of Contents
Focus Text: Psalm 126
When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.
Psalm 126
Overview
Focus Text: Psalm 126
“May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.”
Scripture Commentary by Melinda Wiggins, Executive Director, Student Action with Farmworkers, Durham
This bittersweet celebration present in the Beatitudes and in Psalm 126 seems to be speaking of the joy that comes through political conflict and the struggle for social and economic justice in a way that harkens the voice of the prophets. While there is some relief from oppression, there is also work to be done and more hardships to suffer. But because the people who are “sowing seeds” of justice have been oppressed, their journey will be full of advent.
Pastoral Reflection by Melinda Wiggins
As many liberation theologians point out, those who are oppressed are the most aware of the causes of their oppression and poised to seek justice. Because of their marginalization, farm workers advocate and organize for freedom from slavery, oppression and death. The liberation that farm workers seek is not only for corporal life, but is spiritual freedom as well.
Personal Vignette – Voices of Farmworkers
“We were all shaking because it was so hot, almost dehydrated. You know what I did? I left them…It was less than an hour before finishing, and I thought for $6 I am not going to die here. I’m leaving. In the field, there were no shade trees. It is just a ditch full of weeds, but that’s where I stayed, and it didn’t matter if there were snakes or thorns. It didn’t matter…All I wanted was shade.”
Key Fact
85% of fruits and vegetables in the U.S. are harvested by hand.
Related Texts
They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD – and their descendants as well.
Isaiah 65:22-23
It is the farmer who does the work who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in all things.
II Timothy 2:6-7
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness…for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God.
II Corinthians 9:10, 12
I will make them and the region around my hill a blessing; and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. The trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase. They shall be secure on their soil; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke, and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them. They shall no more be plunder for the nations, nor shall the animals of the land devour them; they shall live in safety, and no one shall make them afraid. I will provide for them splendid vegetation, so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the insults of the nations. They shall know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord GOD. You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 34:25-31
“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.”
James 5:1-4
Other Lectionary Texts
- Joel 2:21-27
- Matthew 6:25-33
- I Timothy 2:1-7
Scriptural Commentary on Psalm 126
Psalm 126 may be read as a familiar Psalter poem that reflects the human spirit, while at the same time referencing its specific post-exilic prophetic message of deliverance from oppression. Many often think of the book of Psalms as beautiful personal poetry that is imbedded with experiences and feelings that can be transferred to that of a nation and all of humanity.
Psalm 126 fulfills this expectation of personal and universal feelings as it speaks of joy, surprise, sadness and thankfulness. Psalm 126 is also an acknowledgement of the role that the righteous God has played in delivering the Hebrew people from slavery with the promise of a greater future. This chapter acknowledges that God has delivered the people of Israel from their oppressors and because of this the people are comforted. The delivered community of exile has been restored to health—to a life free of oppression—and therefore is full of joy.
The fourth verse, which requests full deliverance of God’s people, as streams overflowing in the desert, transitions the psalm from celebration to a hope only known to those who have lived through oppression. “The opposite of joy is not sadness, but suffering. It is not the superficial kind of rejoicing that springs from unawareness or resignation, but the joy born of the conviction that unjust mistreatment and suffering will be overcome.” (1)
In the last two verses, we are reminded that, as in agriculture, the deliverance from oppression will not be easy or come quickly, but is promised. These verses remind one of the Beatitudes, which also promise justice to the poor in spirit, mourners, meek, hungry, merciful, pure, peacemakers and those who are persecuted. As Evelyn Mattern stated in Blessed are You:
The hungry, the homeless, the impoverished, refugees, abused children, prisoners, addicts, elderly people discarded in nursing homes, victims of war: add them all together and you have a majority of the world’s population. This marginalized majority reflects many of the characteristics of the multitudes Jesus addressed [in the Sermon on the Mount]. Jesus does not promise an immediate, or eventual, paradise…those who have experienced the bliss of the beatitudes can affirm that it comes in the present, even in the midst of hardship and conflict (2).
This bittersweet celebration present in the Beatitudes and in Psalm 126 seems to be speaking of the joy that comes through political conflict and the struggle for social and economic justice in a way that harkens the voice of the prophets. While there is some relief from oppression, there is also work to be done and more hardships to suffer. But because the people who are “sowing seeds” of justice have been oppressed, their journey will be full of advent.
By Melinda Wiggins, Executive Director, Student Action with Farmworkers
Pastoral Reflection on Psalm 126
One Sunday afternoon each fall at the crossroads of Highway 55 and Easy Street in Sampson County, North Carolina, thousands of campesinos, church members, families, student volunteers, and community members gather to celebrate the harvest and give thanks to farm workers for bringing food to our tables. People enjoy traditional Mexican foods such as tamales, taquitos and horchata, as well as the American favorites, hot dogs and hamburgers. Children play games, couples dance to la musica, and families walk around gathering informational pamphlets from service agency representatives. The celebration ends with the soccer trophy being awarded to the champion team.
Around dusk, old school buses and vans caravan workers from the festival back to their reality—overcrowded trailers and substandard farm houses with broken windows and sagging roofs; poverty wages where they are paid by the piece; 12-hour work days; and no overtime, holidays, sick days, workers’ compensation, health insurance, vacation or retirement. The reality of farm workers is inhuman. Most universally acknowledged standards of human rights, such as access to just and favorable conditions of work, fair wages, a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of one’s family, and decent housing and medical care, are denied to farm workers. Unfortunately, the American Dream that many exiled Latin American farm workers seek in the U.S. becomes a nightmare of discrimination and exploitation. Below is an excerpt from an interview with a farm worker in North Carolina who speaks to the disappointment often faced by immigrants who come to the U.S. searching for the American Dream.
One comes looking to make money. And this is a lie because one comes to suffer worse than in his own land…One leaves the family to suffer to come make money here in the United States and it is not true, how one imagines it will be… us immigrants, we are blamed for everything…Truthfully poverty exists [in Mexico], why should we tell you otherwise? Because if there were no poverty, we would not have to come (1).
During the annual Farm Worker Festival, there seems to be a communion of peoples without the usual borders erected by language, class, race, ethnicity or citizenship. For one day each year, there is mutual respect, appreciation, and thanksgiving for the primarily undocumented and working class Spanish-speakers who harvest our fruits and vegetables. The festival provides physical nourishment to the body accompanied by a rejoicing of the spirit. It is through these common experiences of sharing a meal, celebration, learning, and talking that we begin to encounter community. Unfortunately, this day doesn’t come too often and rarely translates to our everyday being. The daily separation that farm workers face from the larger “native” community leads to many health-related illnesses such as depression and alcoholism, and it further isolates this already exiled community. The effect on the “native” North Carolina community can be one of spiritual death, as lack of communion with those who are oppressed can leave one with no hope. This segregation of peoples is a symptom that the community as a whole is not well.
As many liberation theologians point out, those who are oppressed are the most aware of the causes of their oppression and poised to seek justice. Because of their marginalization, farm workers advocate and organize for freedom from slavery, oppression and death. The liberation that farm workers seek is not only for corporal life, but is spiritual freedom as well. Certainly physical death is one form of oppression that farm workers face. Two workers died in the fields of North Carolina in 2005 from heat stroke, hundreds of Latin Americans die annually crossing the U.S./Mexico border, and hundreds of thousands of farm laborers are poisoned with potentially deadly pesticides each year. Farm workers are also seeking a spiritual community. “This spirituality gives rise to new songs to the Lord, songs filled with an authentic joy because it is spirituality that is nourished by the hope of a people familiar with the suffering caused by poverty and contempt.” (2)
In 2004, North Carolina farm workers won a contract with the NC Growers’ Association and Mt. Olive Pickle Co. ending the boycott of Mt. Olive pickles and gaining respect in the workplace for over 8,500 farm workers. With this victory, there was much celebration among farm workers and advocates. Now there is the acknowledgement that there are over one hundred thousand additional farm workers who need protections, wage increases, and benefits. This need for full deliverance from oppression is reminiscent of a speech made by Frederick Douglass at a Fourth of July Celebration in 1852 when he reminded the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society of liberty’s unfinished business. Though referring to slavery, his challenge of the need for awareness, action, and hope is relevant today. He implies that since the church did not stand against slavery, then it:
Regards religion simply as a form of worship, an empty ceremony, and not a vital principle, requiring active benevolence, justice, love and good will towards man. It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing (3).
While it is through oppression that marginalized communities are blessed and thus promised liberation, it is through solidarity with farm workers and other marginalized peoples that many of us can participate in the collective journey toward justice. Without communion with farm workers, who nourish us physically and spiritually, we are not able to challenge the individualism, discrimination, and oppression that support injustice based on one’s documentation status, country of origin, color of skin, language spoken, or money earned. As long as farm laborers continue to live in exile away from their families, earn poverty wages, and work and live in life-threatening conditions, liberty has unfinished business. It is only through a communal journey of hardship and conflict that farm workers and advocates can restore the full community to health—to a life free of oppression—and therefore be full of joy.
By Melinda Wiggins, Executive Director, Student Action with Farmworkers
Sources
1. Libby Manny, Alejandra Okie, Melinda Wiggins, eds. “Interview with Miguel by Luis Mendoza.” Fields Without Borders/Campos Sin Fronteras: An Anthology of Documentary Writing and Photography by Student Action with Farmworkers’ Interns (SAF: Durham, 1998).
2. Gutierrez, 19. 3. Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” 05 July 1852.
Worship Aids about Justice for Farmworkers
Responsive Reading
When we are really honest with ourselves, we must admit that our lives are all that really belong to us. So, it is how we use our lives that determines what kind of people we are. It is my deepest belief that only by giving do we find life.
For whosoever would save his or her life will lose it, and whoever loses his or her life for my sake, will find it.
But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. God gave us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth.
Therefore, choose life that you and your descendents may live.
Our struggle is not easy. Those who oppose us are rich and powerful and they have many allies in high places. We are poor. Our allies are few. But we have something the rich do not own. We have our bodies and our spirits and the just nature of our cause.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than humankind, and the weakness of God is stronger than humankind.
We can choose to use our lives for others to bring about a better and a more just world for our children. People who make that choice will know hardship and sacrifice. But if you give yourself totally to the non-violent struggle for peace and justice, you also find that people will give you their hearts and you will never go hungry and you will never be alone. In giving yourself, you will discover a whole new life full of meaning and love.
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary: they shall walk and not faint.
What do we want the churches to do? We don’t ask for more cathedrals. We don’t ask for bigger churches or fine gifts. We ask for its presence with us, as God among us. We ask the churches to sacrifice with the people for social justice, and for love of brother and sister. We don’t ask for words. We ask for deeds… a multitude of simple deeds for justice, carried out by men and women whose hearts are focused on the suffering of the poor and who yearn, with us, for a better world. Together, all things are possible!
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. Amen.
(from Scripture and the words of César Chávez, found at the National Farm Worker Ministry website, www.nfwm.org, under “Worship Resources.”)
Prayer of Intercession
Let us seek God’s help in the struggle for justice for farm workers.
For the workers who harvest the food that comes to our tables, may they have a living wage. Lord, hear our prayer.
May the seeds of our actions produce a harvest of justice.
For the fruits of decent housing, health care, and hope for the future. Lord, hear our prayer.
May the church be filled with the Holy Spirit to be in solidarity with the workers.
For strength to the organizers who work for the fruits of justice. Lord, hear our prayer.
God bless our hearts and our hands in this harvest of justice.
Amen.
(from the National Farm Worker Ministry, www.nfwm.org)
Prayer for Mindfulness
Let us begin by recalling the words of César Chávez: “Every time we sit at a table at night or in the morning to enjoy the fruits and grain and vegetables from our good earth, remember that they come from the work of men and women and children who have been exploited for generations…” Almighty God, too often we don’t pay attention, we don’t stop to think that, even in this day and age, injustice remains an invisible ingredient in much of the food that we eat. Shake us awake, O God, open our eyes to see our power and obligation as consumers to help put things right. Justice demands it. Love demands it.
Amen.
(from National Farm Workers Ministry, www.nfwm.org)
“Prayer for Agriculture”
“Almighty God, we thank you for making the earth fruitful, so that it might produce what is needed for life: Bless those who work in the fields; give us seasonable weather; and grant that we may all share the fruits of the earth, rejoicing in your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
(from The Book of Common Prayer, 824)
United Farmworker Prayer
Show me the suffering of the most miserable,
So I may know my people’s plight.
Free me to pray for others, for you
Are present in every person.
Help me to take responsibility for my own life,
So that I can be free at last.
Grant me courage to serve others,
For in service there is true life.
Give me honesty and patience,
So that I can work with other workers.
Bring forth song and celebration,
So that the Spirit will be alive among us.
Let the Spirit flourish and grow,
So that we will never tire of the struggle.
Let us remember those who have died for justice,
For they have given us life.
Help us love even those who hate us,
So we can change the world.
Amen.
(written by Cesar Chavez, founder of the UFW (1927-1993)
Children's Sermon about Justice for Farmworkers
Farmworkers may sow in tears, but should reap with joy. Psalm 126
Theme: We should be thankful for the workers who bring good food to us and we should pray for them,
Object: A sweet potato or a can of yams.
Scripture: Let those who plant with tears reap the harvest with joyful shouts. Let those who go out, crying and carrying their seed, come home with joyful shouts, carrying bales of grain! Psalm 126:5-6 CEB
Ask: Did you eat breakfast this morning? What are you having for your Thanksgiving meal today? Ask them if they like sweet potatoes. Explain that sweet potatoes make delicious candied yams, yam soufflé, etc. Mention those ooey-gooey marshmallows that some Moms put on top. Segue into where those sweet potatoes come from. Lead them to see that they are grown on a farm and picked by farmworkers. What are some other things that farmworkers help to bring to your table? Potatoes, beans, tomatoes, apples, etc.
Read the scripture.
Explain that farmworkers work very hard. Sometimes in the very hot sun, with not much water or breaks to use the bathroom. Sometimes there are chemicals on the plants that burn their skin or make it hard for them to breathe. The working conditions for many farmworkers are bad and should be improved. We should be very thankful for farmworkers who bring such good things to our table. God wants these hard workers to come home with joyful shouts, carrying their own bales of grain to take care of their own families.
Challenge: When you say grace at your meals, try to remember the farmworkers who have worked so hard to bring the food to your table.
Prayer: Thank you Lord for the good food we have to eat. Help us not to take it for granted. Help us to remember the workers who grew it, picked it, processed it and brought it to the stores for us. From the egg to the chick to the bird, to the turkey on our table, we are grateful for the farmers, the poultry plant workers, the shippers, and market workers. Bless all of them today. Amen.
Suggested Hymns about Justice for Farmworkers
Canto de Esperanza (Song of Hope)
Presbyterian Hymnal 432
The Faith We Sing (United Methodist) 2186
Envía Tú Espíritu (Send Your Spirit)
Gather Hymnal (Catholic) 459
Jesus, Lead the Way/Jesus, Still Lead On
Gather Hymnal (Catholic) 642
Evangelical Lutheran Worhip 624
The New Century Hymnal (United Church of Christ) 446
Una Espiga (Sheaves of Summer)
United Methodist Hymnal 637
Chalice Hymnal (Disciples of Christ) 396
New Century Hymnal (United Church of Christ) 338
Presbyterin Hymnal 518
Woke Up This Morning
Chalice Hymnal (Disciples of Christ) 623
The New Century Hymnal (United Church of Christ) 85
The Faith We Sing (United Methodist) 2082
Quotes about Justice for Farmworkers
It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. He gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an awesome opportunity.
César Chávez
Be angry about injustice! Use your skills to make the world a better place.
Dolores Huerta
What do we want the Church to do? We don’t ask for more cathedrals. We don’t ask for bigger churches of fine gifts. We ask for its presence with us, beside us, as Christ among us. We ask the Church to sacrifice with the people for social change, for justice, and for love of brother. We don’t ask for words. We ask for deeds. We don’t ask for paternalism. We ask for servanthood.
César Chávez
To not take sides is to side with those in power.
Gustavo Gutierrez
People have to struggle to live and, frequently, to live in an undignified way. One cause of this situation, in my opinion, is in our relationship with money and our acceptance of its power over us and our society. Pope Francis
Vignette about Justice for Farmworkers
Voices of Farmworkers
Worker 1
“We were all shaking because it was so hot, almost dehydrated. You know what I did? I left them…It was less than an hour before finishing, and I thought for $6 I am not going to die here. I’m leaving. In the field, there were no shade trees. It is just a ditch full of weeds, but that’s where I stayed, and it didn’t matter if there were snakes or thorns. It didn’t matter…All I wanted was shade.”
Worker 2
“The other day that we were at Mass, I couldn’t feel my face because it was cracked and that comes from the fertilizers. The fertilizer is alive. It is alive. It is alive in the soil! You pick it up and you start with this rash. Then it starts penetrating…”
Worker 3
“I believe it is better to speak up than to stay with the same conditions and do nothing – either way I might lose my job. [But] if I speak up at least I do something for my co-workers.”
Worker 4
Worker in Mexico: “You know, the Americans don’t really like us. They only want us to go there to work, like animals. The Mexicans go there to suffer doing hard work, while the Americans stay out of the fields. In the time I worked in the United States, I never saw an American in the fields. You never see them out picking. They hire Mexican supervisors to work their own countrymen to death. They’re real tyrants. You can’t even stop because they’re always yelling, ‘Faster, faster! You’re getting paid to work, not to stand around.’ We are only shoulders here, wanted because we do the work no one else wants to do.”
Collected in North Carolina by Sister Evelyn Mattern
(from “Hands of Harvest: Hearts of Justice,” curriculum for churches published by the N.C. Council of Churches, 2004, p. 7.)
Testimonies of Child Farmworkers
Richard M., 17 years old
“When I was fourteen I worked in the fields for two weeks, chopping the weeds around the cotton plants…I woke up one night, I couldn’t breathe; I was allergic to something they were spraying in the fields. I stopped breathing…I tried to drink water but I couldn’t so I ran into my mom’s room ‘cause I didn’t have no air in me and I was like [wheezing gasps] trying to get air in there but I couldn’t…At the hospital they said I was allergic to something out there… something they were spraying…They sprayed the fields in the morning. We’d be out there when they were doing it, or when they were leaving, or we could see them doing other fields. They’d spray by plane.”
Ricky N., 17 years old
“We had to share water from one big jug. It wasn’t enough. You couldn’t drink as much as you wanted. Maybe twice a week we would run out of water completely. An old man took us there [to the field] in the morning, set us up, then would come back in the afternoon to pick us up. If you ran out of water, if you passed out, tough.”
From Human Rights Watch, www.hrw.org
Contacts & Resources for Justice for Farmworkers
www.nccouncilofchurches.org/programs/farmworkers
North Carolina Council of Churches’ Farm Workers program page contains a link to the Farm Worker Ministry Committee of the Council’s website, www.ncfamrworkers.org. Here you can find updates, activities, and resources such as Hands of Harvest, Hearts of Justice: North Carolina Farm Worker Issues in a Biblical Context. This curriculum was produced by the NC Council of Churches Farm Worker Ministry Committee and the National Farm Worker Ministry. It is a 7-session Christian curriculum designed for adult and high school groups, Sunday Schools or Bible Studies. The curriculum guides your group in learning about and reflecting on farm worker issues in the context of biblical values and in exploring how you can be a part of the farm worker movement for justice. The curriculum is available in English and Spanish as a free PDF download from the Council website.
www.ncfarmworkers.org
The Farmworker Institute is a project of the NC Council of Churches’ Farmworker Ministry Committee, with a generous grant from the Duke Endowment. The Farmworker Ministry Committee is made up of a diverse group of advocacy organizations, representing a statewide collaboration dedicated to improving the working and living conditions of our state’s farmworkers.
www.ncfan.org
The Farmworker Advocacy Network (FAN) is a statewide network of organizations that work to improve living and working conditions of farmworkers and poultry workers in North Carolina. Since 2003, they have been collaborating to bring workers’ voices to the legislative process. In the past, FAN has identified and led campaigns to improve housing conditions, pesticide safety and wages.
www.nfwm.org
The National Farm Worker Ministry is an interfaith organization that supports farm workers as they organize for empowerment, justice, and equality. Grounded in faith, NFWM works side by side with farm workers throughout the country, organizing vigils, picketing, coordinating boycotts and educating constituents. Clicking on the North Carolina state office link provides specific NC information on events, resources, and updates on the struggle for farm worker justice. The North Carolina NFWM office also coordinates opportunities for congregations to assist migrant workers directly by providing transportation to meetings, collecting clothing and health kits, and other activities.
www.floc.com
Farm Labor Organizing Committee is a farm worker union which successfully negotiated an historic three-way contract between workers, the North Carolina Grower’s Association, and Mt. Olive Pickle Company in 2004, ending a five-year boycott of Mt. Olive Pickles. The contract resulted in more than 8,000 farm workers in North Carolina becoming the first such guest workers in the U.S. to win union representation and provided for improved wages, safety protections, and grievance procedures.
www.farmworkerlanc.org
Legal Aid of North Carolina, Farmworker Unit is a non-profit that provides free civil legal assistance to farmworkers across the state. The Farmworker Unit is committed to improving the living and working conditions of farmworkers and their families through legal representation and advocacy. Every summer, church members and other volunteers are invited to participate in Legal Aid’s “Witness For Justice” outreach program, accompanying Legal Aid attorneys to migrant camps and handing out educational materials to workers. Contact the Farmworker Unit at 919-856-2180.
www.saf-unite.org
Student Action with Farmworkers, a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring students and farmworkers together to learn about each other’s lives, share resources and skills, improve conditions for farmworkers, and build diverse coalitions working for social change. SAF accomplishes its mission by coordinating summer internships, providing year-round opportunities for direct service, and carrying out community education, advocacy, and community and labor organizing work. SAF summer interns are available to speak at local churches about farm worker issues.
www.ufw.org
United Farm Workers is the organization founded by César Chávez.
Facts and Reflection about Justice for Farmworkers
- 85% of fruits and vegetables in the U.S. are harvested by hand. (https://www.ncchurches.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/NC-Farmworkers-2012.pdf)
- The U.S. has between two and three million farmworkers. About 150,000 farmworkers and their dependents live in North Carolina, which ranks sixth in the nation in the number of migrant farmworkers. (http://www.ncfarmworkers.org/2012/06/facts-about-north-carolina-farmworkers/)
- 94% of migrant farmworkers in North Carolina are native Spanish speakers. (https://www.ncchurches.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/NC-Farmworkers-2012.pdf)
- 53% of farmworkers nationally are undocumented. (http://www.ncfarmworkers.org/2012/06/united-states-farmworker-factsheet/)
- Nationally, the average annual income for an individual farmworker is $11,000, or $16,000 for a family. Farmworkers on the East Coast earn about 35% less than this national average. (http://www.ncfarmworkers.org/2012/05/farmworkers-vital-contribution-to-north-carolinas-economy/)
- In 2009 and 2010, 65% of all farmworkers made less than $20,000/year. 25% of all farmworker families had an income below the poverty line in 2009 and 2010. (https://naws.jbsinternational.com/5/5income.php)
- The percent of farmworking families living in poverty is nearly double that of other working families in the U.S. (http://www.ncfarmworkers.org/2012/05/farmworkers-vital-contribution-to-north-carolinas-economy/)
- Most farmworkers are exempt from minimum-wage laws and overtime provisions. 50% of North Carolinian farmworkers report being unable to afford enough food for their families. (https://www.ncchurches.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/NC-Farmworkers-2012.pdf)
- Only 32% of all farmworkers in the U.S. have health insurance. Of these, 21% paid for their insurance themselves. (https://naws.jbsinternational.com/7/table7.pdf)
- Up to 44% of farmworker families live in housing directly adjacent to agricultural fields, increasing the likelihood of pesticide exposure. Most farmworker children are routinely exposed to pesticides. (https://www.ncchurches.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/NC-Farmworkers-2012.pdf)
- Farm labor ranks as one of the top three most dangerous occupations in the U.S. Farmworkers endure the highest rate of toxic chemical injuries and skin disorders of any workers in the country. (http://www.ncfarmworkers.org/2012/06/north-carolina-farmworker-health-facts/)
