Over 90% of people working on Oregon farms are Latino and/or Indigenous farmworkers who bring our food from farm to table, both on big conventional farms and on small local organic ones.

While local food systems and alternative food movements have done good work addressing environmental exploitation with more sustainable practices, little effort has been made toward addressing the exploitation of farm labor. When we purchase local food to care for ourselves and our families, we must grow our food activism to keep that cycle of care in action and do what we are able to make sure everyone in our food system is able to care for themselves and their families.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, farmworkers were officially deemed “essential workers,” and yet our laws and policies still prevent farmworkers from receiving good wages, health care, overtime, and other essential needs. I want to see the hoards of people who walk up and down farmers markets each week put that same energy and passion into following farmworker-led movements and changing immigration reform.