San Joaquin Poverty and Industrial Agribusiness: Law Review Article by Lloyd Carter.

I am farmer from Westlands. Every single one of my employees is above minimum wage and that is just to start off. Some are very well paid. They even have benefits and housing at a reduced rate on our farm. Some have worked at the farm since when I was a kid and I'm over 40 now. Why would they stay? They must be at least a little happy with their wages to stay that long. We do not force them to stay.

You point at just Westlands, what if you look at all ag labors not just Westlands. I bet you would find similar conditions across the board.

Interesting, but you know that anything that Llyod Carter puts out is going to be slanted. He hates farmers.

Congratulations on a fine article!

You’ve stated your thesis clearly and simply and supported it with solid evidence.

The facts and evidence are now available to all. That’s a major accomplishment.

The Steinbeck quote was well chosen; the same for the reference to George Washington, who was no slave to the Enlightenment!

Now we know "that federal irrigation and farm-subsidy policy in the San Luis Unit since the 1960s has exacerbated grinding poverty while enriching a few dozen of the factory farming dynasties to the detriment of the environment, the human population of the region, small growers, and the public fisc."

This is not a small thing to establish, and you have (it seems to me) established it.

We also know we are about to hear someone say “Well?” and stand there and wait until you answer. If you hesitate, you’ll be accused of being one of those gloomy people who always says what’s wrong and never says what to do about it.

This device is employed to resolve the issue, since it means your entire point can be overlooked if one can’t do anything about it anyway. After all, what’s the point of even mentioning it?

But I, for one, thank you for defining the issue with clarity.

That’s the first and perhaps the most critical thing to do when it comes to really doing something about anything.

Again, congratulations and many thanks for what I consider to be a major contribution to the field of applied environmental law.

Nice article Lloyd. I am interested if anyone from Westlands will try to dispute the facts. I suspect they will simply ignore it in hopes that others will too.