Most downstate dwellers purchase their food after it has traveled more than 1,500 miles, often ripening in transit and creating a substantial carbon footprint in the process. They are invincibly ignorant about where their food comes from or who grows and harvests it. They don't see local farmworkers or understand that they are already covered by dozens of federal and state laws and that they enjoy health-care and educational benefits that are comprehensive.
Most people don't realize that farmworkers in the Hudson Valley have better healthcare, child care, and educational benefits than other segments of the economy. Programs like the Alamo Community Center in Goshen, that continue to serve dozens of farmworker labor groups throughout the region, was begun by farmers who have a vested interest in seeing that their seasonal workforces are kept healthy. They have worked for years on designing a social infrastructure that can maintain workforce health and safety.
Agricultural, unlike other segment of the US economy, is dependent upon Mother Nature, who determines the growing season. Skilled farmworkers don't work during the months of November, December, January, February, and March. Mother Nature only demands that both farmer and farmworker be ready to harvest fruits, vegetables, and herbs when She decides they are ready, sometimes in the middle of the night.
The New York Legislature, which has been reviewing changes to current farm labor law, is ignorant of these facts and wants to remain so. We are grateful that some of its members, like Sen. Devid Valesky, and Sen. Darrel Aubertine, and an actual farmer serving in the NY State legislature, have exercised common sense and patience, and are taking the time to educate others about agriculture in New York. We are confident that his fellow members will pay attention and learn from him. Farmer Al Buckbee, elected last year as Orange County Legislator, is bringing the story of the long-standing collaboration between farm worker and farmer to Orange County, NY. We can all benefit from Mother Nature's bounty when we understand her.
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