Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 93
IMMIGRANTS IN THE U.S. FOOD SYSTEM
CHAPTER 2
Andrew Wainer, Bread for the World Institute
More than 70 percent of all hired U.S. farm workers are foreign-born, mostly from Mexico,
and about half are undocumented.1 Many arrive in the United States to escape poverty and
hunger in their homelands. They can earn more money in the United States, but they still live
on poverty-level wages and suffer from food insecurity.
Maria, an immigrant from Mexico who works harvesting vegetables, is an example of the
sacrifices that immigrant agricultural workers make to feed their families. Maria came to Florida
para salir adelante—to get ahead. She arrived as a teenager in the mid-1990s, escaping a life of
poverty on her family’s Oaxacan corn patch.
In south Florida, she worked seve