Agriculture and Food Access in California

An investigation into the prevalence of food insecurity in California's top agricultural counties

Mika Leslie

In 2019 California was the highest agricultural producing state in the country, with a community comprised of a staggering 69,900 farms and ranches.

The monetary value from the 2019 crop year was over $50 billion, nearly double that of the next-highest state (2).

According to the CDFA's California Agricultural Statistics Review, in 2019 the top five agricultural counties were Fresno, Kern, Tulare, Monterey, and Stanislaus (2). These can be seen on the right.

You might think that the highest agricultural producing counties in the highest agricultural producing state would not experience food insecurity.

Unfortunately, that is not the case.

The USDA defines a food desert census tracts as: "Low-income census tracts with a substantial number or share of residents with low levels of access to retail outlets selling healthy and affordable foods are defined as food deserts" (9).

Under this definition, a census tract will be classified as a 'food desert' if they meet low-income and low-access thresholds.

Low-income:

  • A poverty rate of 20 percent or greater or,
  • A median family income at or below 80 percent of the statewide or metropolitan area median family income

Low-access:

  • At least 500 persons and/or at least 33 percent of the population lives more than 1 mile from a supermarket or large grocery store, or
  • 10 miles in rural areas

On the right is a map of the California census tracts that have been flagged as food deserts based on data from 2019, shown in dark blue.

Despite being highly productive areas in terms of agricultural output, significant portions of the five counties of interest are made up of food desert census tracts.

According to USDA data from 2019, 6.6% of the census tracts in California were flagged as food deserts (8). Comparatively, the percentage of census tracks flagged as food deserts in the counties highlighted here are:

  • 13.6% in Fresno County
  • 17.9% in Kern County
  • 20.5% in Tulare County
  • 3.2% in Monterey County
  • 9.6% in Stanislaus County

How is it that four out of the five most productive counties are above the state average for food deserts?

We can see a similar pattern emerge when we look at low-income census tracts and low-access census tracts separately:

Census tracts flagged for low income (left, dark blue) and low access (right, brown) - Legend on bottom right

43.1% of California census tracts are low-income, and 24.5% are low-access (8). Once again, the five highest agricultural counties in the state fall mostly above this average.

    The percentage of low-income and low-access tracts for each county are:

    • Fresno County: 65.8% low-income and 26.6% low-access
    • Kern County: 66.2% low-income and 37.7% low-access
    • Tulare County: 79.5% low-income and 30.8% low-access
    • Monterey County: 38.7% low-income and 22.6% low-access
    • Stanislaus County: 59.6% low-income and 21.3% low-access

Once again the top agricultural counties fall above the state average for low-income and low-access census tracts, often by a high margin.

It is no mistake that these agricultural counties consist of higher rates of food deserts than other areas.  Nina Sevilla of the NRDC   argues that even the phrase "food desert" is misleading, because it "pulls focus from the underlying root causes of the lack of access to healthy food in communities", and because it implies that this lack of access is naturally occurring (6).

In reality, the prevalence of food insecurity in these communities stems from the combination of several factors; primarily the racial demographics of these communities and the political legislation that effects them (1, 4).

Behind the $50 billion worth of agricultural goods produced in California is a huge labor force. The Migrant and Seasonal Enumeration Study by the Bureau of Primary Care's Migrant Health Program reports that the California agricultural sector employs 1.1 million farm laborers (3), although approximations like these have been found to undercount farmworkers so the total could be much higher (1).

One study reported that 40% of these laborers work in the leading five agricultural counties, which at. the time were Fresno, Monterey, Kern, Tulare, and Ventura (3).

Of California's large agricultural workforce, 95% are workers who were born outside of the US (3). Given California's proximity to the border, the vast majority of these farm workers are from Mexico.

This map illustrates California's Hispanic or Latino population. The presence of Mexican farmworkers can be seen in the darker shades within the top agricultural counties.

The correlation between racial status and food insecurity can be seen in this comparison between California's Hispanic population and low-income census tracts.

Hispanic or Latino population by census tract (left) and census tracts flagged for low-income (right)

There are several reasons for the prevalence of food insecurity in these areas.

The Commercialized Agricultural Sector

Many aspects of the agricultural sector contribute to food insecurity for those who working within it. Seasonal variation means that workers are often unable to find year-round employment.

In addition, the systematic devaluation of agricultural labor has led to decreasing wages and poor working conditions.

Political Factors

By some estimates, 50-70% of California's farmworkers are not legally authorized to work in the United States (5, 7). This status makes them particularly vulnerable to labor rights violations, and unable to stand up for their rights without risking their livelihoods.

The militarization of the US-Mexico border has likely also contributed to increasing levels of food insecurity for migrant farmworkers. Faced with an inability to safely return to Mexico they are more likely to bring their families to the US with them, but then need to support their families despite a lack of consistent work and poor wages (5). Border policy has also had a significant effect on the credibility and bargaining power of farmworkers by promoting anti-immigration sentiments (1).

The National Labor Relations Act is another example of political legislation that denies rights to farmworkers. Agricultural laborers were excluded from the rights provided under the NLRA, including collective bargaining (5).

The systematic differentiation of farm labor from other labor sectors predicates the levels of widespread food insecurity among farm workers in California and the United States at large (1, 5).

Studies have shown that farmworkers in California experience food insecurity at even higher rates than the general low-income population (1).

It is important to address the political and economic roots to these issues, rather than placing the blame on a workforce that has been systematically exploited for decades. Addressing this issue means confronting the problematic policies that continue to withhold rights from farm workers. It means strengthening laborer protections, enforcing labor regulations, and supporting worker autonomy, because it is unacceptable that those who produce our nation's food are among the most likely to experience food insecurity.

References

  1. Brown, S. and Getz, C., 2011. Farmworker food insecurity and the production of hunger in California. In: A. Alkon and J. Agyeman, ed., Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class and Sustainability. [online] Cambridge: MIT Press, pp.121-146. Available at: <https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=QSxWUoj9twQC&oi=fnd&pg=PA121&dq=Farmworker+food+insecurity+and+the+production+of+hunger+in+California&ots=HLOaxTA4ne&sig=ivoKKv_rWXSxhF4JQjAjQ0iHhuo#v=onepage&q=Farmworker%20food%20insecurity%20and%20the%20production%20of%20hunger%20in%20California&f=false> [Accessed 20 April 2021].
  2. California Department of Food & Agriculture, 2020. California Agricultural Statistics Review, 2019-2020. [online] Sacremento: cdfa.ca.gov. Available at: <https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/PDFs/2020_Ag_Stats_Review.pdf> [Accessed 27 April 2021].
  3. Devadoss, S. and Luckstead, J., 2008. Contributions of Immigrant Farmworkers to California Vegetable Production. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, [online] 40(3), pp.879-894. Available at: <https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/docview/227940541/fulltextPDF/F5B5C8F331F46E9PQ/1?accountid=14522> [Accessed 23 April 2021].
  4. Langellier, B., Chaparro, M., Sharp, M., Birnbach, K., Brown, E. and Harrison, G., 2012. Trends and Determinants of Food Insecurity Among Adults in Low-Income Households in California. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, [online] 7(4), pp.401-413. Available at: <https://www-tandfonline-com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/doi/full/10.1080/19320248.2012.735217> [Accessed 25 April 2021].
  5. Minkoff-Zern, L., 2012. Migrations of Hunger and Knowledge: Food Insecurity and California’s Indigenous Farmworkers. eScholarship.org. [online], Available at: <https://escholarship.org/content/qt0j5193z4/qt0j5193z4_noSplash_187ceab6278495dfcbd19661a4974d1e.pdf> [Accessed 25 May 2021].
  6. Sevilla, N., 2021. Food Apartheid: Racialized Access to Healthy Affordable Food. NRDC.org, [online], Available at: <  https://www.nrdc.org/experts/nina-sevilla/food-apartheid-racialized-access-healthy-affordable-food > [Accessed 1 June 2021]
  7. Smolski, A., 2019. Stemming the Exploitation of Immigrant Farm Labor. Contexts, [online] 18(2), pp.70-71. Available at: <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1536504219854727> [Accessed 22 April 2021].
  8. US Department of Agriculture, 2017. Food Access Research Atlas. [online] Available at: <https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/download-the-data/> [Accessed 15 April 2021].
  9. Ver Ploeg, M., Nulph, D.. and Williams, R., 2011. Mapping Food Deserts in the United States. USDA Economic Research Service, [online], Available at: < https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2011/december/data-feature-mapping-food-deserts-in-the-us/ > [Accessed 25 May 2021].