Even under the best field conditions, labour can be a target for those who claim agriculture exploits workers. 

Planting, maintenance and harvest can look, and be, heavy, hot and sweaty, even when nothing’s amiss. That’s just the way field work is. 

And that reality puts image-conscious exporters in countries such as Mexico in a delicate position. 

On one hand, the harsh reality of field labour can’t be sugar coated. Doing so would draw suspicion that something is being hidden.  

But at the same time, exporters don’t want to risk losing valuable markets if consumers misinterpret non-threatening situations. Consumers are driven by values, and fair-wage labour is a big one.

That’s why Mexico’s recent farm labour-related brouhaha with its northern neighbour is so critical to sort out. 

On December, 31, 2021, the Los Angeles Times reported that tomato shipments from two agribusinesses in the Mexican state of San Louis Potosi were being blocked from entering the U.S. because of alleged forced labour abuse. 

The allegations include withholding workers’ wages and subjecting them to abusive working and living conditions, described by one U.S. official as “horrible.” 

The Times also claimed there was a Canadian angle to the story, with some of the tomatoes being handled in Ontario for distribution domestically and internationally, to huge supermarkets including Walmart. 

Some industry observers questioned the validity of the allegations, saying they might be politically motivated by the U.S. tomato industry which competes with Mexican imports. 

But in any event, Mexico has a legal problem on its hands, not to mention the public relations challenges that accompany it.

Now for the ironic twist.  

At about the same time this story broke, up in Guadalajara, almost seven hours northwest of Mexico City, discussions were underway at the highest levels – involving representatives from the U.S. embassy and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) – to ensure agricultural worker safety. 

Guadalajara is the fast-paced business centre of Mexico’s Jalisco state, a huge producer of berries that are exported to the rest of North America, as well as agave (the latter of which is used to produce tequila and agave spirits). I wrote about Jalisco for The Grower in 2020 when I visited berry farms in the region, as part of an International Federation of Agricultural Journalists’ study tour.

I refreshed my contact with Mexican agricultural journalist Hugo Castellano who reported recently on the Guadalajara meeting, hosted by the Council for Agricultural and Agroindustrial Development of Jalisco. 

“Issues related to the integral connection between agri-food production and working conditions related to it have not stopped being reviewed and defined, based on new standards that are arising from international demand, along with new visions of individual and social responsibility,” he said.

He told The Grower that at the meeting, an initiative was presented called the Pilot Project of Labour Welfare for Agricultural Day Labourers and Day Labourers of Jalisco. Aldo Mares Benavides, vice president of the council’s labour welfare affairs, said the model is intended to be used throughout Mexico. 

“We want to set an example,” he said. “We focus on the issue of identity, equal conditions of women and men, getting day labourers seen from the importance of what they do.”

According to Castellano, meeting participant Mary Ellison, a labour attaché with the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, underlined America’s interests and its displeasure with her host country’s track record.

“Our approach is to promote equal working conditions around the world, strengthen labour standards and fight child labour,” Ellison is reported to have said. She claimed that during the pandemic, child labour increased globally. 

FAO representative Lina Pohl Alfaro reminded meeting participants that social issues affect the potential of a country’s agricultural economy – especially when exports hold such promise. Castellano noted PohlAlfaro’s insistence that safe conditions must be created for the “comprehensive protection” of all labourers in Mexico. 

“It's not just a matter of justice,” said Pohl Alfaro, “it's a matter of competitiveness.”

Agricultural journalist Hugo Castellano is originally from Argentina. He has lived in Jalisco since 2009 and contributes to a variety of publications as well as radio there. He is a member of the Mexican Guild of Agricultural Journalists. Owen Roberts is a past-president of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists and a communications instructor at the University of Illinois.