Sarah Taber

If you've ever thought "It's such a bummer that farm jobs suck so bad, no American would ever wanna do them,"

NONE OF THAT IS TRUE.

Here's what building a proper damn farm sector with real jobs & upward mobility would look like. (Extremely abridged bc 8 minutes.)

https://youtu.be/FdZfYMIv3iM

Jul 22, 2025 at 2:42pmWeb
Show threadSarah TaberJul 22, 2025

Also, it's really weird how this conversation in the US always revolves around "Making farm jobs good enough for Americans."

Farm jobs should be good jobs no matter who's doing them.

Even a lot of self-described progressives seem to have a hard time getting that!

knock it off it's weird

Show threadcurtosisJul 22, 2025
@sarahtaber We had a whole war and a bunch of amendments about whether people who do “farm jobs” can be Americans, even.
Show threadSarah TaberJul 22, 2025
@curtosis 👆
Show threadColin from Edinburgh.Jul 22, 2025
@curtosis @sarahtaber
Why the Confederacy lost.
Show threadJuan Per¢ent,🇲🇽 🍉,🇻🇪Jul 22, 2025
@sarahtaber Psst... The Mexicans, Salvadorians Guatemalans.... doing the farm jobs right now ARE all Americans.
Show threadSarah TaberJul 22, 2025

@dacig I love Mastodon, you can't get pedantry like this anywhere else

You can spend a week making a well-researched video debunking capitalistic excuses for why a Latino-dominated job "has" to be horrible & how to do better

you can even push back on the widespread framing of why estadounidenses think these jobs should be made humane in the first place, "so we can get rid of Latinos in this workforce"

and the response you get is…this (:

thank you for your careful attention (:

Show threadChrisJul 22, 2025
@sarahtaber @[email protected] I love reading comments like this and trying to guess the context because it turns out I already blocked the troll asshat you’re responding to and cannot see their comment. Indicates to me that you’re dealing with a social media op account and not a thoughtful, actual human being.
Show threadJuan Per¢ent,🇲🇽 🍉,🇻🇪Jul 22, 2025
@sarahtaber You are confundida amiga.
I understand that any job should be fit for any person. It's the good fight.
Only as a Mexican I can't help getting triggered by the use of the "American" to refer exclusively to the European settler- colonialists.
Especially in the context of the jobs usually performed by the other Americans, whose wages, resources and rightful designation are being appropriated.
I'll check the video.
Show threadMWTJul 22, 2025

@dacig I was once told that I wasn't a "real American" because my ancestors weren't from America (they are from China). I then pointed out that she wasn't a real American either because her ancestors were from Europe. She quickly changed the subject and refused to ever talk about it again. :p

The struggle is real.

Show threadDarwin WoodkaJul 22, 2025

@sarahtaber @dacig

lots of people from the central and south Americas here, yes ;^)

Show threadMatt McIrvinJul 22, 2025
@sarahtaber My inexpert attitude is this: Real, progressive immigration reform would have the goal of making even a much broader range of legal immigration less exploitative than it is now. But that is as incompatible with a system that requires masses of exploitable workers as shutting the door would be. So either way, making work less exploitative is key.
Show threadMatt McIrvinJul 22, 2025

@sarahtaber In that connection I've noticed that the right's attack on birthright citizenship for children of all immigrants often advocates the "rational" approach taken in most European countries-- but that has the effect of legitimizing the presence of a multigenerational population of native-born non-citizens. Workers who won't get the full benefits of a generous welfare state, even though they've lived in the country since they were born and done the work to support it all their lives.

Yeah, no, don't sign me up for that. The menace of birth tourism that sometimes gets liberals on board is just not serious enough.

Show threadMatt McIrvinJul 22, 2025
@sarahtaber (Also, I looked up the numbers and most of what I'm talking about here isn't even farm labor, even in the US, though that's the thing that we automatically imagine when undocumented immigrant labor is discussed. Farm labor is a portion of it but it's a minority.)
Show threadBill, organizer of stuffJul 22, 2025
@sarahtaber
>>> Sarah Taber for Secretary of Agriculture. <<<
Show threadLenoraJul 22, 2025
@sarahtaber my parents were raised on farms and one of my uncles farmed until he died and it’s hard work. You’re at the mercy of Mother Nature, labor shortages and market value
Show threadChrisJul 22, 2025
@sarahtaber Excellent video. Spot on. Thank you for sharing!
Show threadPernickJul 22, 2025
@sarahtaber Former high school/college summers veggie farm hand checking in. It was my favorite job of the handful I've had. It also wouldn't have pencilled out if I hadn't been living with my parents. All the adults I worked with were scraping by or had partners with a stable job. I went to college hoping to get into agriculture on the science side, and wound up elsewhere, so now I just live vicariously through my garden. I've debated going back many times though.
Show threadColin from Edinburgh.Jul 22, 2025

@sarahtaber

Has the USA started PAYING farm workers?

The Founding Fathers wouldn't like that.

Show threadCoach Spore DieselJul 23, 2025
@gardenseverywhere