Agriculture question

[starrkers]

Does the US have groups of itinerant workers that travel through the fruit and vegetable growing regions working as harvesters?
In Australia, there are groups of people that move from region to region as the various crops come to maturity. Students, tourists and retirees also use this as a source of income.
I'm working on a story with a footloose and fancy free character. She needs an income source. Would fruitpicking be a viable one for her in the US? Or is this activity taken more by "illegals"?
Also, is California the correct state to centre her in, or are there other regions she could hang out in?

 

[FallingToFly]

Yes they have groups that follow the crops. Flub the rest, in my vho.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Yes. They are called "Undocumented Aliens".


After thinking about the rest of your question. That's hard to answer. The income from harvesting fruits and veggies is basic starvation. As far as where to locate, that depends on the time of year. It could be California or Utah or Arizona or New Mexico, depending on the month, rainfall and so on.

Most of the winter and spring all the fruit and veggies come from Central and South America. Then by June the crops pick up in the US and last until early fall - that's only about 5 months max.

 

[mjl2010]

Yes. They are called "Undocumented Aliens".


After thinking about the rest of your question. That's hard to answer. The income from harvesting fruits and veggies is basic starvation. As far as where to locate, that depends on the time of year. It could be California or Utah or Arizona or New Mexico, depending on the month, rainfall and so on.

Most of the winter and spring all the fruit and veggies come from Central and South America. Then by June the crops pick up in the US and last until early fall - that's only about 5 months max.

I know the migrants as we call them in the midwest find work here until October and early November. Most are undocumented as Jenny said.

MJL

 

[R. Richard]

They begin harvesting tomatoes around Cabo San Lucas very early. The harvest then move North until they cross into CA. The harvests then move North in CA until they get to the top of the growing range. There is then a second cycle.

Most crop harvesting is a low-pay operation. However, a hard working man can often make a fair amount of money, since the pay is by poundage, not hourly. I say man, because few women can carry a heavy sack of pickings and move fast enough to make the higher pay.

Most of the southern harvesting is done by "Mexicans" [many from central America. As you move toward the northern end of the operations, there are more and more American kids who earn a bit of money at harvest time. The Mexicans are migrants, the Anerican kids stationary.

If you have a woman character, her best bet would be picking citrus fruit. At least a few years ago, women did most of the picking from ladders, while men did the heavy work of moving the ladders. If the woman is supposed to be a hot babe, you have to be kidding me.

 

[Edward Teach]

Does the US have groups of itinerant workers that travel through the fruit and vegetable growing regions working as harvesters?
In Australia, there are groups of people that move from region to region as the various crops come to maturity. Students, tourists and retirees also use this as a source of income.
I'm working on a story with a footloose and fancy free character. She needs an income source. Would fruitpicking be a viable one for her in the US? Or is this activity taken more by "illegals"?
Also, is California the correct state to centre her in, or are there other regions she could hang out in?

Let her be a "Contract" worker or a "Temporary." That would give her plenty of freedom to move about while still earning a decent living and allow you the ability to make her occupation pretty much whatever you wish or even change it from job to job and put her in many different work and living environments.

Many professionals contract for specific jobs for specific amounts of time, usually with different companies and they often move about the region or country. Some common contract occupations include nursing, computer programming and accounting but can be almost anything these days from doctors and lawyers to laborers.

Temporary workers encompass almost every type of work these days and being a temp would allow her to change jobs at will -- there are no contractual obligations being a temp. It would give you almost unlimited freedom to do whatever you wanted with your character.

If you want more info, pm me and I'll be happy to help.

Ed

 

[floweringquince]

Does the US have groups of itinerant workers that travel through the fruit and vegetable growing regions working as harvesters?
In Australia, there are groups of people that move from region to region as the various crops come to maturity. Students, tourists and retirees also use this as a source of income.
I'm working on a story with a footloose and fancy free character. She needs an income source. Would fruitpicking be a viable one for her in the US? Or is this activity taken more by "illegals"?
Also, is California the correct state to centre her in, or are there other regions she could hang out in?

Well, yes, but...

The vast majority of agricultural migrant workers in the US are from Mexico, or Central or South America, in about that order. About half of them (give or take 25% are illegal aliens/undocumented workers. I've never met of heard of a migrant worker who did not speak Spanish, about 40-80% of them speak some English.

Wages are, as Jenny says, starvation. Wages are paid "piecework" (per box packed, pound picked, etc.) to circumvent hourly minimum wage laws. 13-14 hour days (1/2 hour each for breakfast, lunch and dinner) are typical. Employers provide housing, but it is poor at best, unsafe, unsanitary and excreble at worst.

Back in the late 1960's & early 1970's (which is the period I happen to know the most about), migrant workers usually overwintered in Texas.
Partly because springtime work starts in the south (and parts of Texas are as far south as you can get in the US without going to Florida (which is too remote to form a viable base) or Hawaii (which is even more so . But mostly because Texas housing codes were much looser than those of California or most other states (indoor plumbing optional, windows not required in every room, etc.). That meant that the low end of the housing market had much cheaper rents for people on a work and income "hiatus."
I think (but am not sure) that, while Texas has since improved its housing codes, the custom still holds.

IMHO, being a migrant worker is an awful, rotten, horrid, mean purgatory of a job. If that were what your heroine did, I would expect that after a day's work she'd to be too tired to fuck.


However; for "trustworthy-looking" white native speakers of English with green cards or US citizenship; there are other, much better odd jobs available:
- Fast-food places are almost alway hiring.
- "Auto delivery services" look for people to drive cars on long hauls across the country. Drivers need valid licenses and clean driving records. Pay is enough to let make the trip and eat and have a few bucks; but not enough to justify a career.
- some skills; such as waitressing, nursing, auto repair, etc.; are always in demand and employers readily accept people who move around and change jobs a lot. If you give your character a nursing certificate (or, to be less conventional, a welding certificate , she should be able to pick up work pretty much anywhere.

Hope this helps,

- Quince

 

[starrkers]

Thanks everyone.
It sounds fairly similar to the Aussie deal (I live smack in the middle of stone fruit and vegie growing territory). I wasn't sure how the foreign worker thing would affect it, it's not a big deal here - one of the joys of being a one nation island
I was planning on having her heading to the citrus picking in California, and it sounds like that is a feasible option.

 

[CharleyH]

Does the US have groups of itinerant workers that travel through the fruit and vegetable growing regions working as harvesters?

They are called Jamaicans and Mexicans.

Edit to add that my response seems silly, but most people here do not know know anything other than they are Jamaican or Mexican workers and that's what we call them in Canada: The Jamaicans or The Mexicans.