Workin in the Fields - A Proposal

My proposal for my second hypertext essay is the following. America’s food supply is considered my many to be the pinnacle of agriculture, producing more food than our country needs. However, the agricultural economy relies heavily on cheap labor to keep costs down. While machines have taken over in many arenas, we still have many migrant as well as undocumented workers in the fields of America. In Shipler’s expose The Working Poor , he tells the stories of many workers in America struggling to break out of poverty. The workers of the fields are no different, their pay system is just as horrible as the four cents/fly that a worker has to sew on jeans (78) and their work is at times deprecating to their health. Without access to the same resources as other workers, the field workers face many challenges including finding a reliable source of income, traveling across the country to work, harassment, as well as maltreatment. Similar to the story of Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, the agricultural movement from small family own farms to large corporate owned farms has denigrated the situation of these workers further. With profit margins growing, the pay for the farm worker has decreased leading to further problems facing these workers. I have already gathered articles on this subject and need to review them but I already have an idea of what shape this hypertext essay will take. In addition, I have found there are many articles on this subject and I would like to concentrate on their way of life, their struggles, their ability to improve their situation or lack there of, and the trends of the trade.