Picking Fruit
This week's template photo (LMAC collage contest #170) almost offered a blank slate. We had a wide field and distant horizon to work with. Sometimes, freedom is not a gift, but this week I enjoyed it. I went back to my youth and country scenes I remember vividly. It was fun to bec absorbed in that environment.
The Template Photo by @shaka
The bucolic scene in my collage is rather deceptive. Behind the scenes, danger lurks. A report from the National Farm Workers Ministry in Canada describes some of the perils inherent in farm work.
- Injury:
There is risk from injury by farm machinery. Physically repetitive activity wears on joints and muscles. The U.S. occupational safety agency, NIOSH, reports that farm work is one of the most hazardous professions. Not only is the worker exposed to danger, but family members share that exposure.
- Heat Stress:
The Ministry reports that workers face not only dehydration and heat exhaustion, but also heat stroke and even death. The USCDC calculates that farm workers suffer heat related death at a rate 20 times higher than the rest of the civilian population.
Farm Workers, Lobeco, South Carolina, USA (1962)
Archives Branch, USMC History Division. Used under CC 2.0 license.
California is the only state in the U.S. that requires minimum access to water and shade during the day for farm workers.
Exposure to Pesticides for farm workers is direct and indirect. As they work in the fields, the workers actually my be sprayed as the pesticide is applied to produce. Also, as the workers collect the produce, they are exposed to the residue of insecticide on the fruits and vegetables.
In 2020 the U. S. NIH published the results of a review that looked at studies of farm worker pesticide exposure. 35 studies from around the world were analyzed. The conclusion of this analysis was that pesticide exposure is not only common among these workers but that it exacts a serious health cost in the population. Poor (or no) protective gear, misuse of protective gear, and lack of education about the dangers of exposure are partly blamed for the high risk.
Tobacco Harvesting in a Stream Bed, Dry Season, Mali, 1980
Attribution: W.E.A. van Beek. Used under CC Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
Farm workers who pick tobacco may suffer nicotine poisoning. The poisoning is more likely to occur in circumstances of extreme heat because sweat facilitates absorption of nicotine into the blood stream. Not only that, the poisoning intensifies the effects of heat stress, so that workers in tobacco fields are more likely to become ill from heat stress.
Children and adolescents (yes, children!!) are more susceptible to nicotine poisoning than are adults.
- Child Labor
According to Human Rights Watch it is legal in the United States, "for children at age 12 to be hired to work unlimited hours outside of school on a tobacco farm of any size with parental permission, and there is no minimum age for children to work on small tobacco farms or tobacco farms owned and operated by family members."
The Association of Farm Worker Opportunity estimates that there are between 400,000 and 500,000 child farmer laborers in the U. S. The (rather long) C-Span video linked here records a hearing conducted on the gaps in U. S. labor laws that leave children working in agriculture unprotected.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?522656-1/hearing-child-farm-worker-protections
I borrowed richly from LIL, the LMAC Image Gallery. Thank you to each of the LIL contributors who helped to make my collage possible.
@redheadpei
dog
farm shed
canoe
@adncabrera
little girls (in the canoe)
@Muelli
tree (served as basis for apple trees)
@agmoore
pond
deer
Peacock-private photo
I also am grateful to contributors on public domain sites listed below
Basket
diapicard on Pixabay
truck
brianoney on Pixabay
farmer
lpuo on purepng
The process was not linear. I hopped around quite a bit. Early on I decided to focus on the trees and green pasture in the background. I'll show a few of the numerous steps I took in completing this collage.
I expanded the green area so I could build on a scene there:
I took @muelli's tree, filled it out, place fruit from @yaziris on it and placed the tree (multiplied) in the green space:
Both fruit pickers came from the same image on purepng.
I had to move the figure's legs and arms around, change the flesh and hair tone, (I didn't want my picker to be a cliche) and change the pickers' outfits so they would look like two different men. I added the flatbed truck, apples, baskets, dog, and shed/house.
I added a pond and put deer near it. Also, two girls in a canoe.
I put a lot of time into placing the girls in the canoe, but you can hardly see them in the collage. I touched up the boat and heightened the color on the dresses. Still, you can't see these elements unless you look very closely:
Flowers, peacock, stream and cat came last. Plus, I tried to sharpen the trees a bit, and I trimmed the width of the picture. My result is not exactly what I was going for, but it's close:
Making collages is a creative exercise and a learning experience. This week I learned a little more about farm workers. Please check out our winners from last week's contest, just published today. Tomorrow a new template will be published. Make a collage and join in the fun.
You can see that LIL, the LMAC Image Library, was an essential part of my collage creating process this week. Everyone on Hive can contribute to the library and everyone can borrow from the library. Learn about the procedure here.
I wish all my readers peace and health.