Book Review: Finding America’s Farmworkers

Reviewed by Chelsey Tucker

A thoughtful balance of real-life stories and reliable research to help you better grasp the state of American agriculture

Michael Durbin has gotten to know many seasonal migrant farmworkers over the years by volunteering with a ministry outreach program. The more he learns about these men, the more questions about the H-2A program—concerning temporary agricultural workers—he had. This book is a compilation of their stories and the answers to Durbin’s questions.

Migrant workers have come from Mexico to the United States for seasonal work for decades. Domingo Álvarez has made the long multi-day trek over twenty times. Nowadays young folk don’t know how to preoccupy themselves without a cell phone, but Domingo has a different way of killing the time: rompecabezas de enredo,or disentanglement puzzles. When Durbin was given one such puzzle by Domingo, it proved just how well they work. “Over the following months, I would spend an hour or two each week trying to get the two damn pieces of Domingo’s rompecabeza apart.”

Victor has been making the journey for many years as well. He started out crossing by paying coyotes and smugglers until 1996 when he obtained a H-2A visa and crossed the border in an air-conditioned bus. When it comes to the H-2A program, there are a lot of benefits as well as drawbacks. The migrant workers are able to make a higher wage than they would back home. However, the conditions they live in can be horrifying.

At many of the camps, the mattresses are in terrible shape with springs poking through and mold growing on them. The outreach program has helped replace and dispose of old mattresses when growers refused to. Not all growers treated their farmworkers this way, but they are the exception. One man even confesses: “’Acepto que venimos a trabajar, pero en ocasiones nos ven como unos esclavos, no como personas que, por nuestras manos, los patrones tienen lo que tienen.’ I accept that we come here to work, but sometimes the bosses see us as slaves, not as people who, by our hands, have what they have.”

Finding America’s Farmworkers is authentic and purposeful, considerate of the people behind the work and employing a mix of both Spanish and English. Not only are these workers dealing with conditions like this, but they are in a land where they do not speak the native language. They are complex, varied human beings, and they are made real in Finding America’s Farmworkers.

Another fascinating aspect of this book is Durbin’s breakdown of the historical background of how the Americas were colonized by first the Spanish and then the English. He highlights this back-and-forth tension that has had direct effect on agriculture throughout the New World, and readers are all the better for it. He paints a vivid picture of how immigration coincides with agriculture within this country. It’s a truly helpful resource for those seeking answers as to how American agriculture has reached the state it is in now.

This book’s heart is in its lessons of community, family, and sacrifice. It does a great job informing readers on the legal system in regard to the H-2A program as well. Anyone who is interested in real-life stories and how they fit into the American canvas of migrant worker-driven agriculture will love Finding Americas Farmworkers.

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