US farmworkers’ safety during COVID-19, plus a new model for mental health treatment
To the Point
KCRW
4.4 • 583 Ratings
🗓️ 13 April 2020
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Coronavirus among farmworkers is a threat to America’s food supply chain. Are these workers being protected? Also, courts in Miami-Dade County are keeping people with mental illnesses out of jail.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | COVID-19 is already taking a toll on America's food supply, and it could get worse. |
| 0:08.6 | It's not that there isn't enough. |
| 0:10.7 | The Guardian reports that billions of dollars of food is going to waste from Florida to California. |
| 0:16.5 | That's because restaurants and schools and stadiums and theme parks and cruise ships have shut down, |
| 0:22.7 | and they used to consume almost half of all the food grown in the country. |
| 0:28.3 | So updating the supply chain and getting the food to where it's needed is a major challenge. |
| 0:33.5 | But now consider this. |
| 0:35.8 | Farm workers are among the most vulnerable of America's essential employees |
| 0:40.8 | in terms of health care and living conditions. If the pandemic strikes, let's say in California's |
| 0:47.9 | Central Valley, and keeps them out of the fields, would that be an even more basic risk to the food supply? |
| 0:55.2 | I asked that question of the Guardian's Susie Kegel, Irene De Barraiqua of Lederes Campesinas, |
| 1:02.5 | and David Puglia, who's president and CEO of the Western Growers Association. |
| 1:07.8 | Dave Puglia, you first. |
| 1:09.3 | Clearly the answer is yes. |
| 1:10.5 | Our farm workers are really the |
| 1:13.6 | front line and the first responders, if you will, to ensuring that fresh fruits and vegetables |
| 1:17.6 | reach Americans across the country and people around the world, for that matter. If we were to see a major |
| 1:23.6 | reduction in their ability to continue the noble pursuit that they're pursuing today. |
| 1:29.8 | As we are all sheltering in place, they're in the fields, and they are continuing to put |
| 1:33.9 | themselves at some risk to be able to keep those supply lines open and keep the healthiest food |
| 1:39.8 | we should be eating coming to the grocery stores. |
| 1:42.5 | If we were to see a major impact to their ability |
... |
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