Re-storying Food System Assessments: A Community-Based Approach to Assess Food System Impacts on Farmworkers

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2021BackgroundThe current food system faces numerous challenges in meeting the demands for high agricultural production yields to feed the global population and ensure food security. Agriculture and farmworkers have been the foundation and backbone of the United States (U.S.) economy. Yet, despite the critical role they serve in our current food system, farmworkers continue to be disproportionately impacted by cumulative social and environmental factors resulting from farming practices used to increase yields and ensure the vitality of the food supply chain. MethodsThis dissertation begins by presenting a historical overview of the practices, breakthrough technologies, and increasing intensification of management practices that produced the current agricultural production and food system model. One of the primary objectives of this study was to examine and analyze the cumulative social and environmental factors introduced as management practices primarily focused on increasing crop yields that made farmworkers externalities to the farming process. Through a community-academic partnership, this project took a bottoms-up, community-driven approach to directly engage Washington farmworkers in assessing the factors that affect their lives and further understand their experiences under these new models of conventional agriculture. The data collection methodologies were grounded in community-based participatory research (CBPR) and conducted in two phases: Phase One implementation of a pilot-scale community farmworker survey (n=348); and Phase Two facilitation of farmworker digital storytelling workshops (n=18). Assessing our current food system requires situating the interconnected factors of agricultural production and food systems in contemporary and historical contexts. Findings The digitization of farmworker stories, paired with the data from the community farmworker survey, provided the opportunity to assess and gain new insight on how: (1) farmworkers are an indispensable part of the food system; (2) they adapt to the impacts of the current food production systems; and (3) through their lived experiences, they hold the knowledge and wisdom to bring forth justice and change to agriculture practices, food systems, and food security. The results of the community farmworker survey described the demographic, occupational health, social, and environmental factors that influence farmworkers and their community's well-being. The findings from the digital storytelling workshops provided a deeper understanding of farmworkers' lived experiences, including social, cultural, and political sensitivities and their survival strategies. Conclusion This dissertation contributes to the ongoing discussion regarding the security and vulnerabilities of the current food system model. However, rather than focusing on addressing global food security through increased production and socio-technical solutions, it challenges our current assessment methods to delve deeper into the consequences of our current production systems on farmworkers and the environment. Furthermore, this research integrates the voices and experiences of farmworkers, who have historically been excluded from the conversations and decisions regarding agriculture, food systems, and food security. Their perspectives have been missing and are critical in creating a sustainable, secure, and equitable food system that does not produce unhealthy environments or pose a detrimental risk to workers who are the foundation of the food system