Summary Of In The Strawberry Fields By Schlosser

The deplorable working conditions of illegal migrants
In his article “In the Strawberry Fields” Eric Schlosser examines the illegal labor market of the strawberry industry. Thus, the author describes the main problems that migrants face while working in the fields of California. Thus, the majority of the workers are illegal migrants of Hispanic origin that are ready to work at any cost as they need to earn at least something for their living. Among the major problems that migrants suffer from it is possible to mention the following: poor working conditions, mistreatment, low wages and sharecropping. Living in the country illegally, these people have no rights and the ability to ask help from the authorities.

Indeed, the problem of sharecropping is especially common in the strawberry industry. In general, in the strawberry business sharecropping means that grower shifts all the great risks that may appear in the business to the farm worker. At present time there is a tendency to sign sharecropping contracts with migrants. Thus, in order to reveal this problem, the author of the article describes the story of a farmer Felipe (pseudonym). So, when Felipe received a proposal to become a farmer from an ordinary worker, he signed the sharecropping contract without any hesitations. He didn't realize that he was responsible for all the risks that may appear in the business. He had to sell strawberries for extremely low prices because the terms of his contract required him to do so. In such a way, Felipe found himself with 50, 000 debt and no profit at all. It happened due to the fact that now growers lend some amount of their money to the sharecroppers for operating costs. Moreover, they do it at a high interest rate. And if something goes wrong, the sharecroppers would not only lose their money, but also find themselves with a huge debt. The main question here is why do migrants sign these contacts. Schlosser explains it in the following way: “the opportunities for upward mobility are so limited among farm workers, and the desire to have one’s own farm is so great, that farm workers are eager to sign such agreements” (Schlosser). The desire of migrants to have a good job is so great that they are ready to sign any contract. That is why it possible to call the issue of sharecropping a problem that requires further