Stories from the field

Stories from the field


Stories from the Field is a collaboration between Farmworker Justice and photojournalist David Bacon. Farmworkers, their families, and communities face serious challenges every day. Through this innovative collaboration, we aim to give voice to the 2 million farmworkers and their families who would otherwise not be heard.

  • Alejandro

    Alejandro comes from the Triqui-speaking town of Santa Cruz Rio Venado in Oaxaca. After migrating to the U.S. as a boy, he finished high school while still working in the fields, and then went to community college and state university.

  • Consuelo

    Consuelo has worked at Brokaw Nursery for 41 years.

  • Miguel

    Miguel comes from the Triqui town of Santa Cruz Rio Venado in Oaxaca. He brought his family to live, first in Oregon and then in California, and has worked in the fields for twenty years.

  • Elisa

    Elisa is a leader of migrant Mexican farm workers and her husband works in the fields.

  • Isabel

    Isabel is a single-mother farmworker who has spent over 17 years working in the fields.

  • Javier

    Javier recently graduated from high school after working as a farm worker since he was in elementary school. He has become an activist and continues to work in the fields.

  • Jose Luis

    Jose Luis comes to pick grapes every year. His friends live in cars and vans in a store parking lot, although he now rents a house during the season.

  • Lorena

    Lorena is a young farm worker and single mother from Oaxaca. She lives in with her daughter and aunt.

  • Lucrecia

    Lucrecia comes from Oaxaca, and speaks Mixteco, one of the indigenous languages and cultures of Mexico.

  • Marisol

    Marisol is a farm worker and single mother from Mexico. She is vice-president of the local chapter of Lideres Campesinas, a farmworker women’s leadership and outreach group.

  • Pedro

    Pedro comes from Oaxaca, and speaks Triqui, one of the indigenous languages and cultures of Mexico. Today he works as a farm worker in the grape ranches of Sonoma Valley wineries.

  • Rafael and Ricardo

    Rafael is a farm worker from Arizona. He works picking grapes every year, driving over five hours from his home. He and his grandson Ricardo live in a van in a store parking lot while they work picking grapes.

  • Ramona

    Ramona was a farm worker for many years, and her husband still works in the fields. Today is in charge of the sexual assault and human trafficking program for Lideres Campesina, a farmworker women’s rights group.

  • Raymundo

    Raymundo is a young farm worker from Oaxaca. He and his friend are the world’s first Mixteco rappers.

  • Teresa

    Teresa is a farm worker who left Oaxaca when she was four and began working in the fields when she was eight. Although she’s only 32, today she’s totally disabled by arthritis as a result of the work.


David Bacon is a California writer and documentary photographer. He was a union organizer for two decades, including several years with the United Farm Workers. Today he documents the changing conditions in the workforce, the impact of the global economy, war and migration, and the struggle for human rights. He is the author of several books about migration — the latest is The Right to Stay Home, just published by Beacon Press. He belongs to the Pacific Media Workers Guild, CWA, and was an organizer of the Labor Immigrant Organizers Network and board chair of the Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights.

Stories