Cycles of deepening poverty in rural California: the San Joaquin Valley Towns of McFarland and Farmersville.

Abstract

AbstractLabour-intensive crop industries have together comprised one of the most profitable segments of the American economy for more than a half century. However, the groups that supply most of the 2-3 million workers for the nation's farm labour markets are among the most impoverished of its workers. California's San Joaquin Valley in the USA is an example of such regional wealth disparities. Crop industries within its three top farm counties generate more than $7 billion in revenues annually. Nevertheless, these same counties contain 7 out of the 10 poorest communities in California, with average annual per capita incomes of $5500. The 7 communities are populated primarily by Mexican immigrants, and farm jobs are the principal source of employment. This chapter discusses the situation and prospects for two of these farm worker towns (McFarland and Farmersville) using ethnographic, archival and secondary data. These cases are used to address: the historical and structural factors that contributed to the unequal distribution of sectoral wealth in rural California; whether the Californian case an aberration or a model for changes occurring across rural communities; and if public policies are able to promote changes in the cycles of deepening poverty for every generation of farm workers.