Out in the Cold

by Cameron Scott · 2010-01-14 16:27:00 UTC
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Last week, the cold snap in Florida threatened citrus, tomato and corn crops, as NPR and others reported.

Bloomberg naturally cried for consumers, who would have to pay a few more pennies for orange juice. NPR cried for farmers -- the plain-spoken (mostly) white guys who own farms -- who would see their crops fail.

Who cried for farm workers, who would earn exactly nothing if crops weren't harvested? A lone Atlantic blogger.

Farm workers live on the line at the best of times, as report after report has shown. The heroic efforts to save crops from freezing that garnered media attention were carried out by them -- and many did not have jackets to keep them warm.

Farm owners will get higher prices for the crops they save, and, in most cases, they have crop insurance for those they don't. But what safety net is in place for the workers? Which websites are taking donations for them? It's food for thought.

Photo credit: A. Barra

Cameron Scott writes The Thin Green Line blog at SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle).
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