‘We should care about farmworkers all year’
A group of Florida State University College of Law students traveled to Apopka to experience an 'Alternative Spring Break'
FSU Law Alternative Spring Break students asked farmworkers how they can best serve their community as future attorneys. The response was simple: “Have empathy and compassion. Listen to our stories and recognize our humanity. Treat us with dignity.”
A group of Florida State University College of Law students annually travel to Apopka to experience an “Alternative Spring Break.” With help from the Farmworker Association of Florida, the students learn about the lives of farmworkers and legal issues that impact them, including immigration barriers, environmental harms, and labor trafficking.
National Farmworker Awareness Week is March 25-31, and although this is a special week to recognize farmworkers, FSU Law student Ashley Hoyt says we should show our appreciation year-round.
“To truly appreciate farmworkers, we must increase legal protections to safeguard their health and livelihood,” said Hoyt, a second-year law student who has attended Alternative Spring Break twice, serving as the program’s coordinator this year.
Hoyt said large-scale agriculture began in Apopka in the 1940s. Then, Central Florida’s farmworkers were primarily African American.
“After extensive chemical and pesticide use in the area’s commercial agriculture, Lake Apopka’s ecosystem collapsed, and Black farmworkers and their descendants were left impoverished with ill health effects,” he said. “While governmental efforts have been made to address Lake Apopka’s ecological collapse, efforts have not been advanced to rectify the harms suffered by workers.”
The demographic of Apopka’s farmworkers has shifted overtime and now most are Latin American and Haitian.
“Although pesticide application faces more stringent regulation today, many farmworkers — especially those at higher risk of exploitation due to language and immigration barriers — still regularly face dangerous exposure,” Hoyt said. “Further, farmworkers laboring for long hours in the sun lack ready access to water or breaks, which can lead to detrimental effects on the body.”
Farmworkers all over the country face similar realities. According to the CDC, agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries, yet OSHA does not provide protections for farmworkers. Florida also doesn’t regulate heat and sun exposure for agricultural workers, despite being home to one of the largest agricultural industries in the nation, Hoyt said.
FSU Law Alternative Spring Break students asked farmworkers how they can best serve their community as future attorneys. The response was simple, Hoyt said: “Have empathy and compassion. Listen to our stories and recognize our humanity. Treat us with dignity.”
