A FARMWORKER SUNDAY SPECIAL REPORT

Agricultural laborers, advocates celebrate progress

DENISE O’TOOLE KELLY | FLORIDA CATHOLIC MANAGING EDITOR

Posted: 11.02.07

For nearly all of his adult life, Abel Vaquera has been a migrant farmworker moving with harvest seasons from Florida to North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, and back to Florida where another winter marks the start of another year of work.
ED FOSTER JR. | FC FILE

Low wages. Cramped and dilapidated housing. Poor working conditions.

Farmworker Sunday each year allows light to shine on these persistent realities that face many of those who tend, harvest and pack fruits, vegetables and foliage in Florida. The day, Nov. 4 this year, is set aside by the state’s Catholic bishops for a show of solidarity with agricultural laborers.

With the federal government estimating at 300,000 the number of farmworkers and family members who live in Florida all or part of the year, the problems may seem intractable. But all over the state, dozens of groups involving thousands of people, including workers themselves, toil every day to improve the standard of living for farmworkers and their families.

As Farmworker Sunday approached this year, the Florida Catholic asked farmworker advocates around the state to tell readers about their recent accomplishments and share their most pressing challenge for the year to come.

ONE :: Agricultural laborers, advocates celebrate progress | TWO :: Immigrants' Rights, Workplace Safety
THREE :: Tomato Prices | FOUR :: Union Holds Ground | FIVE :: Meeting Families' Needs