Whether farmworkers are working in the fields, dairy farms or packing plants, their labor is essential to the food supply industry. However, farmworkers are said to be one of the most vulnerable groups to be affected by COVID-19.
Jesse Martinez, director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, and Evelina Arevalos-Martinez, director of the College Assistance Migrant Program, work closely with students that have a migrant or seasonal farm work background at the University of Idaho.
Martinez said about 25% to 40% of the Latinx student population comes from a farm-working background.
“When we think of essential workers, what it comes with is limited,” Jessie Martinez said. “Having these individuals is important to our day-to-day lives, our farm work community is not getting paid or getting the protections needed.”
As of May 21, 26.65% of Idaho’s COVID-19 cases were Hispanic or Latin though not all of Idaho’s cases recorded ethnicity. Idaho’s Hispanic or Latin population is close to 13% according to the United States Census website.
“Right now is not a time to get mad, it’s not a time to be divided,” Jessie Martinez said. “This is a time to come together, protect one another and demonstrate by example. During difficult times, how can we all come together and see things have been happening? What steps can we take to better serve our communities that are important to our economy and day to day lives?”
Martinez said farm work is ranked as one of the most dangerous jobs in the nation. Many people may classify farmworkers as individuals working in agriculture, but Martinez has a broader perspective. He includes producing, processing and packaging as part of farm work labor.
Julia Santiago, a UI sophomore, CAMP scholar and farmworker, has been working in the fields alongside her parents since she was 12. When she turned 15, she earned an income by working in the fields every summer. Santiago said she would wake up at 4 a.m. to prepare for the long, hot and muddy day.
Currently, Santiago’s mother is working in a hops field, which usually makes beer. Idaho is the second largest grower of sugar beets and hops in the U.S., according to the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.
“It worries me that my mom is working,” Santiago said. “When you are out in the fields you are close to many people. Her crew is about 20 people with close rows of plants — they aren’t even 6 feet apart.”
Santiago said her mother doesn’t have health insurance and if her mother were to get sick, it would be a challenge. If farmworkers miss a day of work, they risk losing their jobs. Many farmworkers do not receive paid sick leave and do not have health insurance.
“Barriers to receiving healthcare include lack of transportation, limited hours of clinic service, cost of healthcare, limited or no interpreter service and frequent relocation in search of farm work,” a SAF United States Farmworker fact sheet stated.
Samantha Guerrero, the bilingual community organizer for Idaho Organization of Resource Councils, said the group heard farmworkers in the Canyon County Area were not wearing anything to cover themselves with while working close to each other in the asparagus fields.
“Farmworkers are pretty disposed to getting COVID-19 because of the conditions they work in,” Guerrero said. “They work in dusty fields, they work close to each other and they’re just working in conditions that are dangerous to their health.”
Community Council of Idaho, PODER of Idaho and Vision 2C are collecting facemasks for farmworkers in Idaho.
Two CAMP Scholar alumni are helping other farm workers and their families live better lives.
Victor Canales did not believe attending university was an option. He began working in the fields as an 8-year-old alongside his migrant farm-working family. After graduating high school, he said the next logical step was to work in a dairy factory.
He didn’t believe he could further his education and asked himself questions that many first-generation students wonder: How do I apply to college? How would I pay for school? What is FAFSA?
But then, he met Jessie Martinez.
Canales heard Martinez talk to students about the struggles first-generation students face after school one day.
“He painted the picture and offered his support,” Canales said. “(CAMP) opened those doors for me. They gave students the opportunity to continue their education, even if they couldn’t dream of it.”
Canales graduated from UI in 2013 and then worked in the CAMP office for five years. He said his time working for CAMP were the best and most rewarding years of his life.
Now, Canales works for Student Action with Farmworkers helping high school students from farm-working communities as the youth organizing director.
“(COVID-19) has brought to light a lot of the issues that are happening. Farmworkers don’t have protections, now we see they don’t have face masks or gloves,” Canales said. “They don’t have paid sick leave, a guaranteed wage, no workers compensation, no quarantine leave and they aren’t eligible for state funds.”
He is also working on supporting farmworkers with an emergency fund provided by Justice for Migrant Women and Hispanics in Philanthropy. Canales said some families don’t have access resources like food, so this emergency fund can help those who are not eligible for the stimulus check.
“There are a lot of non-profits in Idaho that are working to provide resources,” Canales said. “I encourage people to talk to their state senator or congressman to not forget farmworkers and to take action by donating to those non-profits.”
Daniel Liera considers himself to be a farmworker advocate. Liera grew up working in the fields and recalls riding his bike to the fields after school.
“You have to be strong physically and mentally and understand the crops,” Liera said. “We are creating life. We are not taking anyone’s job; we are doing the job people don’t want to do.”
In 2010, Liera was a freshman CAMP Scholar.
Now, he works at Community Council of Idaho as the center supervisor of Migrant and Seasonal Head Start at La Adelita, where he helps transition children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers into preschool. The program provides early childhood health and wellness, education and nutrition. Liera said the children get to do things they wouldn’t normally be able to do because of their income status, like go on field trips.
Educational programs like Head Start and CAMP work closely with children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers.
“CAMP really molded and helped me see I was essential, we were important,” Liera said. “They made us feel comfortable and empowered us, our family away from home.”
Like CAMP helped him, Liera said he hopes the children he works with will one day mold the world and have a good life.
Liera said he was fortunate to attend UI. Liera met Jessie Martinez when he was the CAMP recruiter.
“We call each other CAMP brothers and sisters. To this day we still call each other that, Liera said.” “I’ve never seen a connection like that, and that was because the rhetoric that carried from Jessie and Evelina.”
Evelyn Avitia can be reached at [email protected]