A Farmworker’s Plate: Conducting Community-Engaged Research about Forced Meal Plans Among Farmworkers in NC

• In Event: Securing Food Futures

Abstract

This talk will draw from ethnographic and community-engaged research with the farmworker-led advocacy group El Futuro Es Nuestro (EFEN) which advocates on behalf of and organizes farmworkers in North Carolina. The talk will draw from a collaborative research project carried out by EFEN and Dr. Castañeda’s class entitled “Food, Gender, & Race” (fall of 2024) that investigated food and water accessibility among farmworkers in North Carolina, particularly those subjected to forced meal plans. In addition to ethnographic research with EFEN, over the fall semester, farmworkers participated in daily interviews for 3-4 weeks about their access (or lack of access) to kitchen spaces, their access to food, and an array of abuses and inequitable treatment related to labor and food. North Carolina ranks six in the nation for the number of farmworkers employed within the agricultural economy. Yet, despite the literal back-breaking work performed by farmworkers in order to provide us with food, many are coerced into forced meal plans that do not provide them with nutritious or sufficient food. This paper highlights the structural injustices shaping agricultural labor and the ways workers organize to reclaim autonomy over their diets and working conditions. Additionally, this paper underscores the collaborative methodology that anchored the research and goals.

Author

• Vanessa Castaneda, Davidson College