In this episode of Food Supply Unchained, we examine how U.S. border and labor policies have long intersected to both sustain and exploit immigrant farmworkers. Tracing the evolution of America’s food supply chain, we uncover how the pursuit of “cheap” labor has kept food prices low and corporate profits high; often at a human cost. Through this lens, we explore how documented and undocumented immigrants alike power our nation’s food system, and how the government’s failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform has left that system unstable, inequitable, and unsustainable.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

00:52 The Beginning of the US Food Supply Chain

04:04 Building Railroads & Agribusiness

06:43 WWI - Domestic Labor Shortage

08:47 WWII - Domestic Labor Shortage

11:39 Japanese Internment

14:00 The Bracero Program

16:48 The 1965 Hart-Cellar Act

20:38 Immigration Reform & Control Act

22:16 Impact of NAFTA on Migration Patterns

25:34 Immigrants & the Economy

29:11 How to Get Involved

30:36 Contact Elected Officials - All of Them

31:25 The Farm Workforce Modernization Act

32:46 The Importance of Local Elections in Immigration Reform

35:08 Outro

Show Notes:

• ⁠The Pocket Constitution of the United States of America: Us Constitution Book, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence Travel Size⁠

• ⁠Find Your Members in the U.S. Congress⁠

• ⁠United Farm Workers (UFW)⁠

• ⁠Farmworker Justice⁠

• ⁠National Farm Worker Ministry⁠

• ⁠Coalition of Immokalee Workers⁠

Ohio's 4th Congressional District:

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Keywords:

Immigrant labor, food supply chain, U.S. agriculture, farmworkers, immigration policy, labor laws, border policy, agricultural labor, food industry, essential workers, comprehensive immigration reform, U.S. labor policy, economic dependence, workforce exploitation, labor rights, food system inequality, corporate profit, agricultural economics, federal regulation