4 ms·

I'm pretty sure most of the crops in the US are regularly sprayed in urine and shit. Many of the immigrant workers used on farms are treated like slaves, locked

I'm pretty sure most of the crops in the US are regularly sprayed in urine and shit. Many of the immigrant workers used on farms are treated like slaves, locked up when they aren't in the fields or kept in overcrowded housing without basic utilities. These workers aren't getting bathroom breaks. Even on farms that don't treat their workers so poorly they aren't installing bathrooms in the middle of the fields they truck workers out to, or ferrying them back and forth all day either. Workers couldn't afford take the time to run off to the bathroom even if they had the option. They have quotas to meet and are paid by how much they get done in a day. They're not walking off the job site to use the bathroom. They'll just piss/shit on your veggies and smile to themselves as they think about Americans who don't wash their produce.

11235813213455 2y ago
Pissing or shitting on plants has positive effects if those people have a proper food, hydration, no drugs
brodouevencode 2y ago
> Many of the immigrant workers used on farms are treated like slaves, locked up when they aren't in the fields or kept in overcrowded housing without basic utilities. While conditions aren't what most people consider comfortable, this is at best a major exaggeration. No, there aren't portable toilets out there (some farms do have them) - we'd go off to the side of the field, do our business, and get back to work. No one actively relieved themselves on any product. Most of us kept a damp towel around our necks for cleaning and heat relief, so that's what we would use. Every farm I worked on that supplied to grocers or sold independently had a washing/sanitizing system as part of the operation. So while it's not operating room clean, it's pretty damn clean by the time it got to the consumer. Also, all the mistreatment of migrant workers I experienced was only ever by other migrant workers.
- autoexec 2y ago
  Not all workers are treated that way, but many are. If you were working illegally in the US it sounds like you were lucky. It's been a huge problem in Florida: https://ciw-online.org/slavery/ https://ciw-online.org/slavery/ The same story plays out all over the place. Here it happened in Georgia: https://apnews.com/article/business-georgia-slavery-forced-labor-migrant-workers-0e0d7235e79a4e216307e007a7aa716b https://apnews.com/article/business-georgia-slavery-forced-l... Here in Colorado: https://www.denverpost.com/2024/11/01/h2a-visas-workers-trafficked-colorado-san-luis-valley/ https://www.denverpost.com/2024/11/01/h2a-visas-workers-traf... It's not even just limited to farms. These guys were kept locked up at night and only let out to build luxury condos: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/slavery-towers-feds-say-immigrant-workers-forced-to-build-luxury-condos-in-san-jose/211007/ https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/slavery-towers-feds-sa... This Texas lady forced them to work for her cleaning company: https://kfor.com/news/texas-woman-convicted-of-forcing-two-undocumented-immigrants-to-be-her-slaves-for-14-years/ https://kfor.com/news/texas-woman-convicted-of-forcing-two-u... This landscaping company in Tennessee did it: https://www.foxnews.com/world/tennessee-landscaping-business-sued-by-mexican-workers-claiming-forced-labor https://www.foxnews.com/world/tennessee-landscaping-business... This lady in Illinois just wanted house slaves: https://www.foxnews.com/us/mexican-migrant-trafficking-woman-charged-reportedly-forcing-migrants-working-pay-off-debt https://www.foxnews.com/us/mexican-migrant-trafficking-woman...
  - brodouevencode 2y ago
    I did realize something interesting when there and it speaks to my previous point: most of the abuse was amongst the workers themselves. A lot of times a farmer/producer will hire "a guy" to do a job, one that acts as a contractor. Almost all the time they were migrants. Most times they were legal, but sometimes not. It was up to them to do the actual resourcing - the farmer/producer has no time for that. It would be that contracted resource doing most of the maltreatment/underpaying/mismanagement, and they would almost always treat the entire group badly. I was lucky in that I was there as a family member to the farmer just trying to make summer cash. You're never going to not have some population of people with influence and resources attempt to take advantage of people without those things - that is a story that's as old as time. But statistically these that you have listed are all one-offs - that doesn't mean that we shouldn't care - but it does mean that the tone of your first post is very much over-stated.
mythrwy 2y ago
This isn't even remotely true. Portable bathrooms are required in produce fields during cultivation and harvest, with hand wash stations and this is inspected. Food safety is a big concern at this point and that goes right down the field level (there could be room for improvements). https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/Field-Sanitation-Fact-Sheet.pdf https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/Field-Sanitati... https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1928/1928.110 https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/19... Also you present below one off cases of human trafficking (some not even in agriculture) but these are rare cases and is not "Many" or "Most" by any stretch of imagination for immigrant farm labors. That's not to say it's a great easy life nor a way to get fabulously wealthy or anything. Source: I worked in produce with immigrant laborers on 4 different farms.

11235813213455 2y ago

Pissing or shitting on plants has positive effects if those people have a proper food, hydration, no drugs

brodouevencode 2y ago

> Many of the immigrant workers used on farms are treated like slaves, locked up when they aren't in the fields or kept in overcrowded housing without basic utilities. While conditions aren't what most people consider comfortable, this is at best a major exaggeration. No, there aren't portable toilets out there (some farms do have them) - we'd go off to the side of the field, do our business, and get back to work. No one actively relieved themselves on any product. Most of us kept a damp towel around our necks for cleaning and heat relief, so that's what we would use. Every farm I worked on that supplied to grocers or sold independently had a washing/sanitizing system as part of the operation. So while it's not operating room clean, it's pretty damn clean by the time it got to the consumer. Also, all the mistreatment of migrant workers I experienced was only ever by other migrant workers.

autoexec 2y ago
Not all workers are treated that way, but many are. If you were working illegally in the US it sounds like you were lucky. It's been a huge problem in Florida: https://ciw-online.org/slavery/ https://ciw-online.org/slavery/ The same story plays out all over the place. Here it happened in Georgia: https://apnews.com/article/business-georgia-slavery-forced-labor-migrant-workers-0e0d7235e79a4e216307e007a7aa716b https://apnews.com/article/business-georgia-slavery-forced-l... Here in Colorado: https://www.denverpost.com/2024/11/01/h2a-visas-workers-trafficked-colorado-san-luis-valley/ https://www.denverpost.com/2024/11/01/h2a-visas-workers-traf... It's not even just limited to farms. These guys were kept locked up at night and only let out to build luxury condos: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/slavery-towers-feds-say-immigrant-workers-forced-to-build-luxury-condos-in-san-jose/211007/ https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/slavery-towers-feds-sa... This Texas lady forced them to work for her cleaning company: https://kfor.com/news/texas-woman-convicted-of-forcing-two-undocumented-immigrants-to-be-her-slaves-for-14-years/ https://kfor.com/news/texas-woman-convicted-of-forcing-two-u... This landscaping company in Tennessee did it: https://www.foxnews.com/world/tennessee-landscaping-business-sued-by-mexican-workers-claiming-forced-labor https://www.foxnews.com/world/tennessee-landscaping-business... This lady in Illinois just wanted house slaves: https://www.foxnews.com/us/mexican-migrant-trafficking-woman-charged-reportedly-forcing-migrants-working-pay-off-debt https://www.foxnews.com/us/mexican-migrant-trafficking-woman...
- brodouevencode 2y ago
  I did realize something interesting when there and it speaks to my previous point: most of the abuse was amongst the workers themselves. A lot of times a farmer/producer will hire "a guy" to do a job, one that acts as a contractor. Almost all the time they were migrants. Most times they were legal, but sometimes not. It was up to them to do the actual resourcing - the farmer/producer has no time for that. It would be that contracted resource doing most of the maltreatment/underpaying/mismanagement, and they would almost always treat the entire group badly. I was lucky in that I was there as a family member to the farmer just trying to make summer cash. You're never going to not have some population of people with influence and resources attempt to take advantage of people without those things - that is a story that's as old as time. But statistically these that you have listed are all one-offs - that doesn't mean that we shouldn't care - but it does mean that the tone of your first post is very much over-stated.

mythrwy 2y ago

This isn't even remotely true. Portable bathrooms are required in produce fields during cultivation and harvest, with hand wash stations and this is inspected. Food safety is a big concern at this point and that goes right down the field level (there could be room for improvements). https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/Field-Sanitation-Fact-Sheet.pdf https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/Field-Sanitati... https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1928/1928.110 https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/19... Also you present below one off cases of human trafficking (some not even in agriculture) but these are rare cases and is not "Many" or "Most" by any stretch of imagination for immigrant farm labors. That's not to say it's a great easy life nor a way to get fabulously wealthy or anything. Source: I worked in produce with immigrant laborers on 4 different farms.