I often take for granted life’s simplest things. Growing up in such a suburban culture, I always got glimpses of farms, but I never truly understood or appreciated where the food I constantly shopped for in grocery stores originated from. Coming to Cornell was an eye-opening experience. Being surrounded by endless amounts of farmland and living in a community so focused on agriculture and environmental sustenance had enhanced my appreciation for it. Getting to hear from first hand from Justine Vanden Heuvel and Mary Jo Dudley of how the business is operated, in addition to the issues related to it really shed some light on my perspective of it all.

Over the course of the cafe, as Heuvel and Dudley alternated in explaining the industry, I soon came to realize how large it extended. The fact that it is currently a $5.7 billion industry and that 25% of New York State land alone is dedicated to agriculture is unbelievable. But then again, as they later explained, it’s bittersweet to think that it is also a depreciating industry. Something that everybody so heavily relies on (for it’s literally the source of our sustenance) is under appreciated and neglected. In a society so bent on moving upwards in the class system, many individuals stray away from the stigma that comes with working on a farm; the physical labor, low pay, lack of economic advancement (dead end job) and its association with individuals who are are uneducated all contribute to the adversity individuals feel towards the agricultural industry. Still, even those who do understand and appreciate the value of food production in our society don’t associate the struggles and difficulty of doing so on a more specific scale.

Sure, by visiting a farm, you get to understand the hardships one must endure to even produce the minimum amount of food necessary, but what’s often overlooked is the more interpersonal aspect of difficulty in the lives of the workers themselves. Huevel, who interviewed many of these migrant farm workers, spoke about the journey to find work, the dangers of being an undocumented individual, the risks of deportation for the family as a whole, etc. She sheds light on the more pressing matter of the well-being of the people responsible for the products that we constantly overlook in grocery stores. These individuals work just as hard to stay in this country, and their children, burdened with having to balance both education and work (alongside their parents), are are suffering exponentially worse than an already established American citizen (even if they themselves are citizens too). I believe, in accordance to what Huevel and Dudley believe, that programs should be created to provide support for these individuals, and programs, such as the Cornell farm worker programs could really provide insight for students to the industry and spark inspiration to support the cause.