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How wage structure and crop size negatively impact farmworker livelihoods in monocrop organic production: interviews with strawberry harvesters in California

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  • Rachel Soper

    (California State University, Channel Islands)

Abstract

Because organic certification standards institutionalized a product-based rather than process-based definition, certified organic produce can be grown on large-scale industrial monocrop farms. Besides toxicity of inputs, these farms operate in much the same way as conventional production. Scholars emphasize the fact that labor rights have been left out of certification criteria, and because of that, organic farms reproduce the same labor relations as conventional. Empirical studies of organic farm labor, however, rely primarily on the perspective of farmers. In this study, I ask the farmworkers themselves how harvesting on organic farms compares to conventional, and found that working in organic negatively impacts farmworker livelihoods. Qualitative interviews with 36 strawberry harvesters in Oxnard, California reveal that farmworkers make more money in conventional strawberry production because of the interaction between wage structure and size of the berry. Conventional strawberries are larger and therefore fewer of them fill up a box. Farmworkers routinely pick more boxes in conventional than in organic, thus earning more, since under the piece rate system, farmworkers are paid per box. With short-term economic survival rather than long-term occupational health concerns in mind, strawberry harvesters would rather work on conventional farms because “la fresa orgánica es más chiquita” (organic strawberries are smaller).

Suggested Citation

  • Rachel Soper, 2020. "How wage structure and crop size negatively impact farmworker livelihoods in monocrop organic production: interviews with strawberry harvesters in California," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(2), pages 325-336, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:37:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s10460-019-09989-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-019-09989-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Aimee Shreck & Christy Getz & Gail Feenstra, 2006. "Social sustainability, farm labor, and organic agriculture: Findings from an exploratory analysis," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 23(4), pages 439-449, December.
    2. Julius McGee, 2015. "Does certified organic farming reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural production?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(2), pages 255-263, June.
    3. Jill Harrison & Christy Getz, 2015. "Farm size and job quality: mixed-methods studies of hired farm work in California and Wisconsin," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(4), pages 617-634, December.
    4. Joshua Sbicca, 2015. "Food labor, economic inequality, and the imperfect politics of process in the alternative food movement," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(4), pages 675-687, December.
    5. David Goodman, 2000. "Organic and conventional agriculture: Materializing discourse and agro-ecological managerialism," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 17(3), pages 215-219, September.
    6. Ryan E. Galt, 2013. "The Moral Economy Is a Double-edged Sword: Explaining Farmers’ Earnings and Self-exploitation in Community-Supported Agriculture," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 89(4), pages 341-365, October.
    7. Ryan E. Galt, 2013. "The Moral Economy Is a Double-edged Sword: Explaining Farmers’ Earnings and Self-exploitation in Community-Supported Agriculture," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 89(4), pages 341-365, October.
    8. Julie Guthman, 2017. "Paradoxes of the Border: Labor Shortages and Farmworker Minor Agency in Reworking California’s Strawberry Fields," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 93(1), pages 24-43, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Calvin, Linda & Martin, Philip & Simnitt, Skyler, 2022. "Supplement to Adjusting to Higher Labor Costs in Selected U.S. Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Industries: Case Studies," USDA Miscellaneous 323871, United States Department of Agriculture.
    2. Sophie Kelmenson, 2023. "Between the farm and the fork: job quality in sustainable food systems," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 317-358, March.
    3. Anelyse M. Weiler, 2022. "Seeing the workers for the trees: exalted and devalued manual labour in the Pacific Northwest craft cider industry," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(1), pages 65-78, March.
    4. Delbridge, Timothy A. & Zukoff, Sarah N., 2023. "In-field Food Waste in California Strawberry Production: An Analysis of Harvester Extraction Rates," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 54(04), November.
    5. Calvin, Linda & Martin, Philip & Simnitt, Skyler, 2022. "Supplement to Adjusting to Higher Labor Costs in Selected U.S. Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Industries: Case Studies," Administrative Publications 327333, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

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