Growing Food, Growing a Movement

How Structural Racism Affects Immigrant Farmers

Abstract

First paragraph:

Most U.S. farmers and farm owners are white, while most farmworkers are Latinx immi­grants. This timely book uncoils the history, insti­tutions, and politics that racialize farming in America and the growing number of immigrant farmers—primarily small-scale and Mexican—who have climbed the agricultural ladder despite the crushing barriers they face. Author Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern deftly spells out the social, political, and cultural influences that built racism and anti-immi­grant practices directly into the structure of Ameri­can agriculture. She then enriches the picture with the stories of 70 interviewed immigrant farm­ers who operate within this structure; excerpts from her interviews are spotlighted throughout the book. Additional interviews with agricultural sup­port and outreach programs emphasize how immi­grant farmers are often excluded from start-up capital, land access, and farmers market access. The storytelling element, paired with Minkoff-Zern’s first-person perspectives and reactions, enliven each chapter and extricate the book from a purely scholarly work into an engaging read on immigra­tion, race, and agriculture. . . .