AGRICULTURE, EXPLOITATION AND PROFITS IN AMERICA

The  Tragedy of U.S. Agriculture

Every year, around 2.4 million farmworkers toil in America’s fields and orchards. Nearly half of them; 40% to 45%, lack legal work authorization. That’s about seven hundred eighty thousand to over a million undocumented workers, providing the labor that holds U.S. agriculture together.

In 2023, agriculture, food, and related industries contributed roughly $1.537 trillion to U.S. GDP, with farm output alone accounting for $222.3 billion. Foreign-born workers perform 73 percent of all farm work, with undocumented workers making up 47 percent. Without this workforce, experienced farmers warn of massive labor shortages, rotting crops, and farm closures impacting state economies and raising food prices.

Labor at the Lowest Cost

Undocumented farmers typically earn far below standard pay; around forty‑two percent less than U.S.-born workers. They lack protections like minimum wage, overtime, workers’ comp, and the right to unionize. For farmers and large agribusinesses, this is a profit model built on suppressed wages and legal invisibility.

The Ugly Truth: Exploitation Masquerading as Opportunity

On paper, America promises two pillars: freedom and justice. But for millions of undocumented farmworkers, those pillars crumble. They face dangerous conditions, wage theft, and the constant threat of deportation. Yet they can’t speak up without risking their lives.

And when political winds shift? Guess who gets the blame first? That´s right. These workers are suddenly the villains. ICE raids intensify, and the system scapegoats them, not the employers or policies that depend on their labor.

The Hypocrisy Exposed

It’s a national convenience: hire cheap, low-risk labor, feed the nation, and then blame the laborers when it suits us. ICE raids break their families. We watch in silence while the system turns on the people it profits from most.

America’s Moral Crossroads

This isn’t just a policy failure, it’s a moral collapse. We claim ideals but practice denial. The flag waves, but not for them. Freedom and justice? On paper. In reality, exploitation and silence rule. And if we don’t name it for what it is we are all complicit in a modern form of slavery. 

Now, let's be real: slavery was never abolished in spirit. It was just rebranded. Today, it wears a different mask. It doesn’t use chains, it uses fear. It doesn’t beat bodies, it breaks spirits. It hides behind paperwork and loopholes, behind “guest worker” programs and ICE raids, behind whitewashed language like “labor shortage” and “economic necessity.”

And who’s profiting? The same kinds of people who profited before. The same white landowners, the same powerful class who will tell you they had nothing to do with slavery, while living off its modern version. They breathe it, they benefit from it, and when the time comes, they disown it. That denial is part of the system. That silence is part of the machinery. This is the same strategy playing out again and again.

It’s about hate, it’s about ownership. About entitlement. About a deeply embedded belief that some people are born to own, and others are born to serve. And until we face that truth, no reform, no law, no flag-waving speech will change a damn thing.

So yes, slavery lives. And America wears it like a hidden scar, denying it, justifying it, and making money off it every single day. Because in America it didn't end with the Emancipation Proclamation or the Thirteenth Amendment. Hell no! It evolved. After legal abolition, systems like sharecropping, Jim Crow laws, and convict leasing stepped in to keep Black Americans trapped in cycles of exploitation and control under new names. These weren’t just laws, they were a continuation of ownership, just disguised differently.

Frederick Douglass warned us that freedom on paper doesn’t guarantee freedom in life. The chains may be invisible, but they’re still there. Today’s undocumented farmworkers live under this legacy, caught in a system that profits off their labor while denying their humanity.

Until we face that history honestly and recognize how it shapes the present, we can’t claim to live in a just society. The past isn’t past, it’s still a shadow over every field and every harvest. Amazing, it is still the land.

Can you guess which states, full of farmers, white farmers, voted hardest for Republicans in 2024? Well, try the ones that are top agriculture-dependent. Those were the ones that backed Trump. Counties where 25% or more of earnings come from farming, or over 16% of jobs are in agriculture. Across 444 such farming counties, an average of 77.7% voted for Trump, nearly three-quarters of the vote went to him. And in rural areas overall, 62% of voters chose Trump in 2024, up from 58% in 2020. ´Hate´ is alive and well in rural America.

These are the places that not only rely on immigrant labor to keep fields alive but also constantly demand hardline immigration policies. They cheered for aggressive deportation and border sweeps, but then turned around and begged Trump not to touch “their” farmworkers when raids started. I’ve seen these same landowners - almost in tears, not quite, but close - claiming, “It’s not fair. They’re like family.” Can you imagine? That's rich, man. 

That’s the tragic punchline: it only becomes unfair when it touches them personally. When their wallets shrink, when their fields are empty, when their hands have to do the work. That’s not compassion, it’s false empathy. And it reveals the ugly truth: some people don’t mind injustice… as long as it stays far away from their front porch.

Thanks for reading. Abrazos.

Diego Rojas