Last week, I attended the Becker Rose Café Series featuring Justine Vanden Heuvel and Mary Jo Dudley and their discussion on the state of New York state agriculture.  I didn’t realize that 25% land in New York is farm land and the state is known for growing apples and grapes.  Another cool fact about NY agriculture is that Walmart is the biggest New York apple buyer!

But the most interesting topic in last week’s discussion was the workforce behind New York’s agriculture.  Majority of New York farm workers are from Mexico and Guatemala, most of which are improperly documented.  It is surprising hear stories about how these people raise their families having an average literary of 6^th grade.  Farm workers have a lack of opportunities to interact with the community, and learn more about safety procedures on the farm, English, and even finding out more information about immigration policies.   As I started to realize how little I knew about the workforce behind the state’s agriculture system, I soon learned that there are a lot of people like me.  Research shows that U.S. citizens are unsure of what to do with immigrant farm workers.  Maybe the reason why a lot of people don’t know about this topic is because of the lack of knowledge and experience interacting with farm workers.  Farm work typically has a negative stigma due to the work being physically exhausting and dangerous with low pay.  But people should be encouraged to pursue opportunities in farming because it is more than just physically demanding tasks.