My Gawd, Rig, this is a no-brainer—common knowledge to anyone who pays any kind of attention at all.

Migrant workers following the harvests. This is almost a cliché. But it is still going on. And last I checked, the vast majority were from Mexico or further south in Central America, and most of them are "illegals." The working conditions involve long hours (sunrise to sunset, no eight hour days), rushing to get the crop harvested (lest they spoil in the fields), and one of the main problems is constant exposure to pesticides. No nice house to go home to, they stay in shacks or tents on the farm where they are working. If lucky, a dollar or two a bushel for whatever the crop is, and no benefits. The only difference between this and "pickin' cotton" before the Civil War is that they actually do get paid, but other than that, there's damned little difference.

Same sort of thing goes on in eastern Washington State with apple harvests and various other crops.

Most Americans won't touch these jobs even if they're starving on the streets.

And no, this is not dipping into history, it's going on right now. Without the migrant workers, most of whom, as I say, are "illegals," you'd be paying one helluva lot more for the food you eat.

Don Firth