{"id":12,"date":"2011-11-22T19:05:19","date_gmt":"2011-11-22T19:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/mexicanmigration2011\/?page_id=12"},"modified":"2012-02-13T04:44:58","modified_gmt":"2012-02-13T04:44:58","slug":"history-of-the-apple","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/mexicanmigration2011\/history-of-the-apple\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapping Migration"},"content":{"rendered":"

What motivates migrant workers to move?\u00a0 How do they know where to go in order to find places to work?\u00a0 What kind of influence are Latino migrant workers having on the places they travel to?
\n<\/em>
\nA road less traveled
\n<\/strong>The route that migrant farmworkers take is generally the same year after year.\u00a0 However, there are a multitude of factors that affect the migration route and where people decide to move after they are done in one place.\u00a0 The most important factors that affect the migration pattern are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. How the workers are treated and paid,<\/li>\n
  2. How strict law enforcement is, and<\/li>\n
  3. Whether or not they are travelling with others, be it family, a small group of other workers, or alone.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Travelling is the most important aspect of a migrant worker\u2019s lifestyle and experience in the U.S.\u00a0 When I was speaking to Marta I asked how she traveled with the kids and their belongings and she replied,<\/p>\n

    \u201cSiempre tratamos de salir como en la noche, o salimos en la tarde.\u00a0 Sabemos que los ni\u00f1os nos va dar guerra un ratito, unos dos tres horas y luego se duermen y duermen toda la noche. Y pues como queda en la noche est\u00e1 m\u00e1s tranquilo y m\u00e1s fresco. Es mejor en la noche. En el d\u00eda pues entra el sol y hace m\u00e1s calor, hay m\u00e1s tr\u00e1fico, todo es m\u00e1s\u2026no es lo mismo. Y como es viaje largo, pues tratamos de salir de tarde para llegar por ah\u00ed de mediod\u00eda llegamos a.. del otro d\u00eda, pues toda la noche manejando.\u201d<\/em>[2]<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

    \u201cWe always try to leave in the night, or we leave in the evening. \u00a0We know that the kids are going to fight us for a little while, maybe two or three hours but and then they fall asleep for the whole night.\u00a0 And since it\u2019s in the night it\u2019s more calm and fresh.\u00a0 It\u2019s better in the night.\u00a0 In the day the sun is out and it\u2019s warmer, there\u2019s more traffic, everything is more\u2026it\u2019s not the same.\u00a0 And since it is a long trip, well we try to leave in the evening so we arrive there around midday we arrive at… the other day, driving all night.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    The unspoken understanding in her response was that during the night there are fewer police on the roads and fewer chances of getting pulled over for any reason.<\/p>\n

    In circular motion
    \n<\/strong>The cities and areas that migrant farmworkers travel to for work are all part of a non-official, but well-defined route or circuit for Latino migrant farmworkers.\u00a0 When the work in one area finishes, migrant workers pack their few belongings and move on to the next destination in search of a new job that they will work until the season is over.\u00a0 The stops that migrant farmworkers might take on the East Coast can differ depending on a variety of factors, however there is a consistent, well-defined general route that is followed.\u00a0 From the interviews conducted for this project, I learned that there are three main stops along the circuit.\u00a0 The first stop is in Florida, home base for the majority of the farmworkers at BB, for the orange and citrus season.\u00a0 The second stop is in New Jersey for the blueberry season.\u00a0 The third and final stop is in Pennsylvania for the apple season.\u00a0 Each place has unique characteristics, advantages and disadvantages, which all add to the migrant farmworker\u2019s experience.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Florida<\/strong>
    \nOn the East Coast circuit, Florida is generally the first stop, or the place many migrant farmworkers begin their journeys.\u00a0 This is also where the most time is spent during the year because the season is longer.\u00a0 The citrus harvest in Florida lasts from late October to late May, nearly seven months picking oranges and other citrus fruit.\u00a0 When Marta was asked what it was like picking oranges, she explained:<\/p>\n

    \u201cCasi viene hacienda lo mismo.\u00a0 Bueno es m\u00e1s\u2026.yo digo que es m\u00e1s matado, no s\u00e9 si es.\u00a0 Porque, si cuesta..es m\u00e1s trabajoso que las manzanas.\u00a0 Aqu\u00ed si fuera, bueno las manzanas\u2026es trabajoso porque pues tiene\u2026como uno anda en el grupo tiene uno que andar corriendo conjunto con la gente si no te quedas, si no, como que no avanza.\u201d<\/em>[1]<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

    \u201cIt\u2019s almost the same thing. \u00a0Well it\u2019s more\u2026I say that it\u2019s harder, I don\u2019t know if it is.\u00a0 Because, it is tolling…it\u2019s more work than the apples.\u00a0 Here is it was\u2026well the apples\u2026it\u2019s hard work because you have to\u2026one goes along with the group and has to stay running with the people and make sure you don\u2019t stay behind, it just doesn\u2019t advance.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    She explains that picking oranges is more complicated and harder work because the way they are instructed to pick requires that they after a truck with a large group of people.\u00a0 Sometimes, if a worker is not quick enough, they get left behind and have to stop working for the day because the truck will not wait.\u00a0 This can be extremely discouraging for the workers, but Marta says she thinks that they do it on purpose in order to force everyone to work faster.\u00a0 Many other workers, including the men, commented on the difference between the apple harvest and the orange harvest, and often explained how much more \"\"<\/a>tedious and difficult it was picking citrus, hinting at the fact that working and living in Florida was not the preferred job choice for many people.\u00a0 This attitude toward the work in Florida also reflected on how they felt about life in Florida in general.\u00a0 In another interview conducted by Aidan Gaughran, JJ Luceno and Rachel Gilbert, a woman explains that in Florida, camps are not always provided to the workers, as they are in Pennsylvania or New Jersey.\u00a0 In Florida the family must rent an apartment or small house to stay in during their seven months there.<\/p>\n

    \u201cAll\u00e1 es diferente porque all\u00e1 no vivimos en campo. All\u00e1 vivemos en trailer; rentamos. All\u00e1 no estamos como aqu\u00ed, que estamos todos juntos. All\u00e1 cada qui\u00e9n llega, busca su renta, no te van a rentar.\u201d[2]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

    \u201cY luego\u2026 na\u2019 m\u00e1s trabajas pa\u2019 pagar la corta, pa\u2019 pagar la salida, como\u2026 no, est\u00e1 dif\u00edcil\u2026 est\u00e1 m\u00e1s dif\u00edcil all\u00e1 a veces. Porque all\u00e1 gana uno poquito; paga uno renta que son unos quinientos al mes; paga uno luz, que viene m\u00e1s de cien; paga uno agua, que son m\u00e1s de cincuenta, cada mes, y \u00a1gana uno poquito!\u201d[3]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

    \u201cThere it is different because there we don\u2019t live in a camp.\u00a0 There we live in a trailer; we rent.\u00a0 There is not like here, where we are all together.\u00a0 There whoever arrives looks for their own rent, and they don\u2019t rent to you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    \u201cAnd then\u2026all you do is work to pay the court, to pay the exit, like\u2026 no, it\u2019s hard\u2026 it\u2019s harder there sometimes.\u00a0 Because there one makes very little; one pays rent which is five hundred a month; one pays the light which is over one hundred dollars a month; one pays the water which is more than fifty, every month, and one makes very little!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    Marta explains that they make much less money in Florida because they have to pay rent, light, water, etc., and when everything adds up they have little to spend or save.\u00a0 Predictably, Florida and the orange harvest are one of the least favorite areas of work for migrant workers on the route.<\/p>\n

    Nueva Jersey
    \n<\/strong>The second stop along the general route is in New Jersey for the blueberry season, although there are alternative stops along the circuit during this same summer (late June or early July through late August) time frame.\u00a0 For example, alternative summer stops in the Mid-Atlantic area might be made in Connecticut or North Carolina.\u00a0 However, almost all of my interviews confirmed that New Jersey was the strongly preferred summer stop, if possible.<\/p>\n

    New Jersey (or other Mid-Atlantic locations) is also the shortest stop along the route \"\"<\/a>because the harvest period for blueberries is very quick.\u00a0 Workers will be in New Jersey over the summer, generally between early June to mid-August.\u00a0 Blueberries are easy fruit to pick, as Marta says, \u201ces facilito para toda la gente\u2026 No tiene uno que cargar nada pesado.\u00a0 Nada m\u00e1s que la \u2018basketita\u2019\u201d.[4]<\/a> \u00a0(\u201cIt\u2019s easy for everyone\u2026 You don\u2019t have to carry anything heavy.\u00a0 Just the basket.\u201d)\u00a0 In addition to the relative ease of the labor, Marta thinks, \u201cLas semanas que uno trabaja, trabaja bien. Son bien trabajadas ah\u00ed.\u201d[5]<\/a> (\u201cThe weeks that one works are worked well.\u00a0 It\u2019s good work there.\u201d)\u00a0 These feelings towards work in New Jersey also resonated amongst the other workers.\u00a0 Unless they know in advance that the blueberry season is going to be bad (for climactic reasons), migrant farmworkers want to make a stop in New Jersey and to be hired for the blueberry season.<\/p>\n

    As for home life in New Jersey, many farms give the workers the option to live at a camp on the farm.\u00a0 However, instead of being able to cook their own food at the camps, they buy premade meals from a chef employed by the farm or they pay a fee to eat in a cafeteria where the food is also prepared for them.\u00a0 Marta explains,<\/p>\n

    \u201cBueno, s\u00ed uno quiere arrendar, puede arrendar para vivir mejor, para hacer comida porque ah\u00ed no hacemos comida ah\u00ed en el campo. Este, est\u00e1 la cocina grande y ah\u00ed pagan cocinera o cocinero para hacer comida. La hacen comida a toda la gente, porque s\u00ed es demasiada gente que llega ah\u00ed. Son como, llegan, a ver, hasta dos cientas personas en un campo de esos. Y ese le pagan a la cocinera y dos ayudantes as\u00ed para que hacen la comida para todos, toda la gente. Y despu\u00e9s a uno ya no lo dejan entrar a la cocina con otros a la cocina si no ocupar la cocina. Le digo si quisieramos ser\u00eda bien caro pagar, pues va pagar dep\u00f3sito uno, pagar dep\u00f3sito de luz, de agua, de todo porque\u2026Para arrendar tiene que dar dep\u00f3sito y todo eso. Y a pagar la luz tambi\u00e9n y luego tambi\u00e9n ya es m\u00e1s dif\u00edcil porque si quiere uno bajar luz y agua le piden papeles, pero nosotros no tenemos papeles, y este\u2026no ya no. Y sale demasiado caro, y por eso no. Eso no m\u00e1s, dos meses le digo, y despu\u00e9s para ac\u00e1.\u201d<\/em>[6]<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/em>\u201cWell, if you want to rent, you can rent to live better, to make food there because we don\u2019t make food there in the camp.\u00a0 There\u2019s the big kitchen and there they pay a cook to make food.\u00a0 They make food for everyone because it\u2019s too many people who go there.\u00a0 There\u2019s like, let\u2019s see, up to two hundred people in one of those camps.\u00a0 And they pay the cook and two helpers so that they make food for everyone, all the people.\u00a0 After they don\u2019t let anyone go into the kitchen.\u00a0 I say that if we wanted to it would be very expensive to pay, you have to pay a deposit, pay the deposit for light, for water, for everything because\u2026To rent you have to pay a deposit for all of that.\u00a0 And pay the light also and it is more difficult because if you want to get light and water they ask you for papers, but we don\u2019t have papers, and so\u2026we can\u2019t.\u00a0 It\u2019s too expensive, and because of that no.\u00a0 That\u2019s it, two months I say, and then back here.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    New Jersey is one of the spots on the route that the workers do enjoy passing through.\u00a0 There is always enough work for many people, the labor is not as intensive as oranges or apples and it is for a short period of time, so people do not get bored with the work.<\/p>\n

    Pennsylvania<\/strong>
    \nFinally, the last spot on the general East Coast route is Pennsylvania.\u00a0 The season in Pennsylvania lasts between late August and early to mid October, depending on when the picking is completed at an orchard and when people are ready to move on to the next place.\u00a0 When the workers arrive in August it is very hot still, but the picking starts immediately.    \"\"<\/a>\u00a0 Fortunately, apples stay ripe on the trees for a long time, giving the orchards and the workers time to finish.\u00a0 With the Mosaic class, we had the opportunity to go to\u00a0an orchard\u00a0towards the end of a work day to see how the picking was done.\u00a0 I was surprised at how quickly everyone moves, often running to the trucks to empty their satchels and then continue picking.\u00a0 There are no formal rules on how to pick the apple, only an unwritten rule to not get in anyone\u2019s way.\u00a0 In order to get to the apples, the workers jump, climb the trees and move around tall, rickety wooden ladders.\u00a0 When they are done, they take their bag of apples to a parked truck with enormous wooden crates and empty them.\u00a0 Attached to their hats, bags or clothes, is a tag with their name\u00a0and a barcode.\u00a0 A woman scans the barcode as they bring their filled bag to the crate to record how many bags they filled, and helps make sure that the apples are not bruised when they are emptied into the crate.\u00a0 The workers are paid by the number of bags they fill, so when they are sure their barcode was scanned, they run back to the trees to start all over again.<\/p>\n

    While picking apples is difficult, intense work, Pennsylvania is one of the most popular places for the workers to travel to, and there are many factors that draw workers there.\u00a0 These factors include simple reasoning such as the weather being agreeable during the apple season, and more complex reasoning, such as the services that are provided in Pennsylvania for migrant workers.\u00a0 Through the mosaic, the students were able to visit different organizations that provided different services to migrant workers, like daycare, food bank, legal assistance, help finding new, permanent jobs in the area.\u00a0 As a result, many of the workers have been going to Pennsylvania for many consecutive years.\u00a0 For example, Sa\u00fal has been going to Pennsylvania to work the apple season for nearly fifteen years.\u00a0 While he now lives permanently in Maryland, he continues traveling as a migrant worker to Pennsylvania between August and October of every year.\u00a0 According to Don Sa\u00fal and many of the other men I interviewed, picking apples in Pennsylvania is the best paid work along the East Coast.\u00a0 In addition to good pay, Pennsylvania state law requires that, \u201cAny seasonal farm labor camp within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is required to hold a valid permit prior to occupancy of the camp.\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0 This required permitting of the camps is designed to ensure that the living spaces and facilities are safe, clean and adequate.\u00a0 Understandably, the quality and availability of living space and common facilities for the workers is a major pull factor for many migrant workers.<\/p>\n

    Circular Motion
    \n<\/strong>When the apple season is completed, the cyclical route kicks up again, and the workers travel back to Florida.\u00a0 The time spent traveling or in transition\u00a0 between each geographic location is always very stressful and unpredictable for the workers.\u00a0 The day they leave depends on whether or not all the work is actually done at the orchard, when the boss has their paychecks ready, and how long it takes them to pack their things.\u00a0 I was at BB the day the workers were supposed to be receiving their checks, and the atmosphere was very tense.\u00a0 Everyone seemed to be waiting around or doing things to kill time like cleaning their kitchen stations or making sure every little thing was packed.\u00a0 Between each location on the circuit, travelling is the most unsettling aspect of the experience, and the days leading up to the next move are always nerve racking.<\/p>\n

    \n
    \n
    [7]<\/a> Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Seasonal Farm Labor Camps<\/em>, www.agriculture.state.pa.us<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What motivates migrant workers to move?\u00a0 How do they know where to go in order to find places to work?\u00a0 What kind of influence are Latino migrant workers having on the places they travel to? A road less traveled The route that migrant farmworkers take is generally the same year after year.\u00a0 However, there are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1069,"featured_media":66,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/mexicanmigration2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/mexicanmigration2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/mexicanmigration2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/mexicanmigration2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1069"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/mexicanmigration2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/mexicanmigration2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":447,"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/mexicanmigration2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions\/447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/mexicanmigration2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/mexicanmigration2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}