Growing a Better System: Judy Fisk Lucas

03/25/20 • 28 min

In the first episode of our series focused on the agriculture industry, we hear about the often-invisible challenges that fieldworkers face.

Ali talks to Judy Fisk Lucas, the founder and president of Friends of Fieldworkers, a non-profit providing support to immigrant fieldworkers in the major agricultural region of Ventura County, California. Judy and her husband Ted talk about working with farmworkers and the needs they and their families have.

In the first episode of our series focused on the agriculture industry, we hear about the often-invisible challenges that fieldworkers face.

Previous Episode

Trailer: Growing a Better System

U.S. farms feed millions of Americans, and they need roughly 2 million employees per year to do so. But we’re not meeting that need, and we’re seeing crops going unpicked and dying in fields. Our farms don’t have enough workers — and there aren’t adequate immigration pathways to allow more workers to do those jobs.

Throughout this series, we’ll see how immigrants play an outsized role our agriculture industry and how we need a better system for farmworkers and growers alike. Because a stable agriculture workforce — and our nation’s food supply — is at stake. We’ll hear about the experiences of growers, farmworkers and more about the challenges they face — and ways to create the stability and opportunities they need.

Next Episode

Growing a Better System: Fred Strathmeyer Jr.

In the second episode of our series focused on the agriculture industry, we hear about the challenges that U.S. farms face due to a lack of workers.

Ali talks to Fred Strathmeyer Jr., the Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary for Plant Industry and Consumer Protection. Fred talks about his department’s commitment to a sustainable and safe food supply and its connection to immigration.