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Hekate

(99,819 posts)
29. The author is a farmer, & I have found her take on the issues educational & thought provoking
Mon Oct 13, 2025, 03:57 PM
Monday

She’s a small farmer, and a farming consultant now with a college degree, but as a youngster she worked for pay in the actual fields alongside people who did not get paid for their work. They were from the prisons. Other people did not get paid either — their wages went to their overseers, the people in charge of seeing they were trucked into the US at harvest time. She’s keenly interested in labor conditions.

I wish I had a transcript of the time she talked about the history of migrant farm labor in this country, going back about a century and a half. They’ve always been a necessity. They used to travel back and forth across the border as a matter of course.

And the time she talked about who actually owns the farms — aside from some people who inherited, there are quite a few city people who need a tax shelter. Just a tax shelter, not “a way of life, “ a big tax shelter. The biggest and easiest crops to grow are soybeans and corn — very mechanized export crops, in vast acres of monoculture.

In my county we do labor-intensive crops, like strawberries, broccoli, and avocados, and ICE has been devastating and terrifying this year. At least I know that much — had no idea about the soybeans before this.

She ran for public office in her state as a Democrat — lost — will run again, I think.

So, listen or don't listen, but I always feel I’ve learned something, which is why I occasionally pass her vids along.

Recommendations

8 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

k&r Thanks for posting! alwaysinasnit Monday #1
She's always interesting Hekate Monday #2
Agreed. yardwork Monday #9
I think all company heads that voted for Trump want de facto slaves durablend Monday #3
Yes, in the 1980s they discovered the concept of dumping those roles in your company travelingthrulife Monday #20
It's always been the case Delarage Monday #4
Greater understanding. Thanks. cachukis Monday #5
That would be the type of MAGA they are imagining, for sure, and we just have to make sure LymphocyteLover Monday #6
Wow! Hate to say it but this really kind of makes me hate farmers. They voted for fascism because they want slaves? Crunchy Frog Monday #7
You Hate FASCIST Famers Just Like We All Hate All Other Fascists MayReasonRule Monday #17
"slave labor" for farms is delusional at this point Cosmocat Monday #8
It's convenient to deport the migrants right before payday. yardwork Monday #10
My grandfather was fired Zackzzzz Monday #27
Oh, joy. murielm99 Monday #11
The author is a farmer, & I have found her take on the issues educational & thought provoking Hekate Monday #29
We are small farmers. murielm99 Tuesday #30
I am sorry if you feel bashed by my efforts to be informed. If you listened all the way thru... Hekate Tuesday #31
Certainly more profitable. Kid Berwyn Monday #12
Farmers don't like it when their labor has a right to move on or change jobs. That's similar to why businesses and Hotler Monday #13
This is so true. I remember a discussion with the CEO of a health care org travelingthrulife Monday #21
Not much has changed since Grapes of Wrath Johonny Monday #14
Indeed, The More Things Change, The More They Tend To Stay The Same MayReasonRule Monday #18
I posted something along the same theme the other day. Swede Monday #15
Who are going to be the slaves? ChicagoTeamster Monday #16
Medicaid patients, kids, immigrants from the concentration camps, unemployed people. travelingthrulife Monday #22
You're forgetting durablend Monday #23
I would think of prison labor myself nitpicked Monday #28
Maybe it's time to go back to the days of the truck farmer. MineralMan Monday #19
Brrrr...been there, done that travelingthrulife Monday #25
I'm being sarcastic here. MineralMan Monday #26
Make slavery great again? peggysue2 Monday #24
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