Factories in the Field: The Story of Migratory Farm Labor in California.

Shifting plates in the agrifood landscape: the tectonics of alternative agrifood initiatives in California

“…From statehood (1848) to the beginning of World War II, California built an economy of wealth and power based on the use of natural resources (Walker, 2001) and the subordination of immigrant workers (McWilliams, 1935(McWilliams, , 1971. In that period California agriculture developed the industrial form that allowed it to produce fresh fruits and vegetables for national and international markets.…”

After the Incubator: Factors Impeding Land Access Along the Path from Farmworker to Proprietor

“…For Henke, actions like these in the Salinas Valley represented a long social history of what he terms the "maintenance" of the agricultural system, in which powerful institutions and individuals exert their influence to uphold the prevailing production vision. As early as the 1940s, critics of the agricultural system in California advocated regulating land ownership patterns by breaking up large estates (McWilliams, 1939), but the pattern of large land holdings remained entrenched.…”

Subsidizing farmworker hunger: Food assistance programs and the social reproduction of California farm labor

“…Yet, as scholars of pointed out, the California context does not fit with Mann and Dickinson's thesis, as large-scale, corporate owners have controlled the agriculture sector since white settlement. Growers have historically depended on wage laborers, not family members, to do the majority of the work (McWilliams, 1939, Walker, 2004, and have even profited from nature's obstacles (Henderson, 1998).…”