Food Chains (2014) documents an agricultural system that relies on desperately poor workers for its success. Clearly, impoverished farmworkers are not the beneficiaries of this system. Who, then, does benefit? How might the inequities of the agricultural system be remedied?
April 10, 2019 at 1:22 pm
The massive corporations and entities that sit at the top of the supply chain for these fresh fruits and vegetables benefit immensely from the work of impoverished workers and the system as a whole. Once the supermarket became a national phenomenon, the market was able to consolidate to the point that a few powerful corporations controlled the entire industry, forming a monopsony. Through this dynamic, these corporations are able to exploit their control and buying power over the market by forcing the other players within the supply chain to maintain low prices despite changing costs. In this way, distributers, farmers and workers, must all rely on the rules and prices that the corporations deem fit. For example, although it has become three times more expensive to grow tomatoes, these corporations like Publix have insisted that prices remain low and farmers adhere to the low prices that their contracts consist of. Ultimately, there is a disconnect between the final point of sale and the production of these products.
At one point, the documentary mentions that by raising the prices of these foods by only a couple of cents on average, the labor conditions of the workers at the bottom of the supply change could be remedied. More specifically, by paying one additional cent per pound produced, the pay for migrant workers could be doubled. This would cost Publix only $1 million dollars in total, and the average American family 44 cents per year. This seems like quite a low cost for an outcome that would drastically change the living conditions of millions of workers.
However, it is not in the best capitalistic interest of the small number of corporations that control the grocery market. Rather, they ignore and often further villainize these workers when they come forward with their concerns. In this way, they remain “The forgotten people” mentioned in Harvest of Shame when it comes to the fight against major super market entities.