MONICA CARRILLO-CASAS
Over 900 students are part of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences program
Monica Carrillo-Casas, April 9, 2023
A tractor is seen near the Dairy Center, where many students go for research and projects | Monica Carrillo-Casas
MOSCOW, Idaho– Students went up one by one at the annual Voces del CAMPo event, to speak about their connections with the farmworking community, describing their “primos” (cousins), the stories they would share around the table, and the love they share for their families who work 12 hours under the blazing sun and on the field.
But in reality, and in most cases those 12 hours aren’t made up of just one person, but a whole family picking cherries all day, just to earn $120 dollars.
This was the reality for Beatrice Santiago.
Student activists and members of College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) joined together for the Voces of CAMPO event to speak on the levels of oppression, to learn more about Farmworker Awareness Week (FAW), where wages has been one of the main focal points in many aspects of these stories, amongst the amount of hours worked in a day.
Santiago, who graduated in December 2021 with majors in Latin American Studies and Spanish and minors in Broadcasting and Digital Media and International Studies, works part-time positions as the CAMP administrative assistant and the management assistant for the Office of Equity and Diversity.
During the event, she decided to share an intimate part of her life and the toll farmworking has had on her family.
“My father got into farmworking because of his cousin,” said Santiago, reflecting on parts of her story, “Primo Benito,” she shared at the event. “He would tell my dad ‘you have to come to the U.S., I’m making a lot of money.’”
For a very long time, Santiago says her dad was known as a provider for their family and would send money over to family members in Oaxaca, Mexico while he worked as a seasonal farmworker, but now disabled, her mom is constantly “worried” about work and hours.
Provided by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, this picture shows an idea of how many farms are in Idaho and the market value. | Website of University of Idaho
“I remember when me and my siblings would get together and fill up a bucket (of cherries) and that’s how we would make around $120 a day among the five of us,” Santiago said. “As a young girl, I was exhausted so I can’t imagine my parents doing this— fieldwork is very hard.”
In an article written by Rachel Spacek for the Lewiston Tribune, farmworkers working in an onion field in Parma asked for a raise.
Their increase was only a 50-cent increase, making their pay go from $14 to $14.50 an hour.
In addition, the average wages in Idaho are below the national average, according to the same article. So even though farmworkers are earning more than the minimum wage of $7.25 in Idaho, it isn’t enough to make ends meet with inflation of rent, utility, and other expenses.
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“I think in terms of better rights for farm workers, it ranges to better wages and overtime pay,” Santiago said. “We unfortunately don’t have overtime pay. We need to continue fighting for those rights because even in the pandemic, they were doing the work– and exposing themselves to those dangers.”
She added that undocumented farmworkers didn’t get stimulus checks, either.
“It’s frustrating when we want to see change and we don’t see that right away,” Santiago said.