If you have ever eaten: Statistics from the Florida Tomato Commission’s Tomato 101, http://www.floridatomatoes.org/facts.html.
Americans bought $5 billion: U.S. Department of Agriculture Economics, Statistics, and Market Information System, U.S. Tomato Statistics, Table 070 and 076. I multiplied the average retail price in 2009 by the total production.
In survey after survey: See Christine M. Bruhn, Nancy Feldman, Carol Garlitz, Janice Harwood, Ernestine Ivans, Mary Marshall, Audrey Riley, Dorothy Thurber, Eunice Williamson, “Consumer Perceptions of Quality: Apricots, Cantaloupes, Peaches, Pears, Strawberries, and Tomatoes,” Journal of Food Quality vol. 14, no. 3 (July 1991): pp. 187–95.
According to analyses: Thomas F. Pawlick, author of The End of Food: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Food Supply—And What You Can Do About It (Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books, 2006), originally presented this information. I have updated it. The 1960s figures come from Bernice K. Watt and Annabel L. Merrill, Composition of Foods: Raw, Processed, Prepared, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Agricultural Handbook No. 8 (Washington, DC, 1964). My source for 2010 figures is the U.S. Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 23: http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/12354500/Data/SR23/sr23_doc.pdf.
A couple of winters ago: Pawlick (see above) performed a similar “experiment.”
Little wonder that tomatoes are by far the most popular: National Gardening Association, “The Impact of Home and Community Gardening in America” (2009), http://www.gardenresearch.com/index.php?q=show&id=3126.
Regulations actually prohibit: Federal Marketing Order No. 966 sets standards for tomatoes exported from most of Florida during the colder months.
To get a successful crop: Stephen M. Olson and Bielinski Santos. eds., Vegetable Production Handbook for Florida 2010–2011, University of Florida (2010): pp. 295–316.
Not all the chemicals stay behind: The source is the Environmental Working Group, which compiled statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Data Program and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Pesticide Monitoring Database.
The industry was nearly dealt: For salmonella losses, see Mickie Anderson, “UF Research Finds Salmonella Responds Differently to Varieties, Ripeness,” University of Florida News, September 21, 2010. For freeze losses see Laura Layden, “Florida Tomato Growers Eye Rebound from 2009–2010 Freeze-Ravaged Season,” Naples Daily News, October 3, 2010. For the effects of glut, see Liam Pleven and Carolyn Cui, “Dying on the Vine: Tomato Prices—Tomatoes Go from Shortage to Glut in a Matter of Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2010.
This has put a steady downward pressure: Source for wage statistics is the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, http://www.ciw-online.org/Resources/10FactsFigures.pdf.
The owners had crop insurance: Michael Peltier, “The Other Side of the Freeze,” Naples Daily News, February 8, 2010.
And conditions are even worse: See “From the Hands of a Slave” in this book.
Labor protections for workers predate the Great Depression: Farmworkers were specifically exempted from the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, a key component of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.
A Chilean soldier was guarding: A January 7, 2010, interview with Roger Chetelat in his office at the University of California Davis provided much of the information on the Atacama Desert expedition and tomato genetics. For a more scientific description, see Roger T. Chetelat, Ricardo A Pertuzé, Luis Faúndez, Elaine B. Graham, and Carl M. Jones, “Distribution, Ecology and Reproductive Biology of Wild Tomatoes and Related Nightshades from the Atacama Desert Region of Northern Chile,” Euphytica vol. 166 (December 25, 2008): pp. 77–93.
The Atacama Desert makes up: See Yuling Bai and Pim Lindhout, “Domestication and Breeding of Tomatoes: What Have We Gained and What Can We Gain in the Future?,” Annals of Botany vol. 100, issue 5 (August 23, 2007): pp. 1085–1094.
one of our favorite vegetables: Hayley Boriss and Henrich Brunke, “Commodity Profile: Tomatoes Fresh Market,” University of California, Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (October 2005).
When Hernán Cortés conquered: For the history of the tomato, I drew on Andrew F. Smith, The Tomato in America: Early History, Culture, and Cookery (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1994); and Arthur Allen, Ripe: The Search for the Perfect Tomato (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2010).
Tomatoes’ near-universal popularity: A. W. Livingston, Livingston and the Tomato, forward and appendix by Andrew F. Smith (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1998). The autobiography of the great early plant breeder benefits enormously from Smith’s writing and scholarship.
“Well do I remember”: ibid p. 19
Florida was a late comer: For reference to Parry, Wilson, and Blund, see S. Bloem and R. F. Mizell, “Tomato IPM in Florida,” University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension, Publication no. ENY706/IN178, http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in178. For Hendrix, see Benjamin Bahk and Mark Kehoe, “A Survey of Outflow Water Quality from Detention Ponds in Agriculture,” Southwest Florida Water Management District (1977) and http://floridahistory.org/palmetto.htm.
That was around the time: See E. F. Kohman, “Ethylene Treatment of Tomatoes,” Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (October 1931): pp. 1112–13.
The person most responsible: Statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economics, Statistics, and Market Information System, Table 016, http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1210.
Max Lipman: See Carlene A. Thissen, Immokalee’s Fields of Hope (New York: iUniverse, 2004); also the Web site of Six L’s Packing Company, http://www.sixls.com.
Born in Reading: I am deeply in debt for information about Charles Rick from Arthur Allen, Ripe: The Search for the Perfect Tomato (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2010), which contains an excellent minibiography of the legendary plant science professor. I also drew on an interview and profile written by Craig Canine, “A Matter of Taste: Who Killed the Flavor in America’s Supermarket Tomatoes?” Eating Well (January/February 1991): pp. 40–55.
When I met Monica Ozores-Hampton: Details about commercial tomato horticulture in Florida in this chapter came from an interview with Ozores-Hampton on June 2, 2010. Any errors are my own. Information about the possible health effects about pesticides was taken from reports of the Pesticide Action Network and in no way reflects Ozores-Hampton’s opinions.
If those roots: The Pesticide Action Network’s database on methyl bromide can be accessed at http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC32864.
more than one hundred chemicals: See Stephen M. Olson and Bielinski Santos, eds., Vegetable Production Handbook for Florida 2010–2011, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (2010), pp. 295–316.
Six of the recommended herbicides: The Pesticide Action Network’s database for agricultural chemicals can be found at http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Search_Chemicals.jsp#ChemSearch.
A distressing number: The Environmental Working Group compiled statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Data Program and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Pesticide Monitoring Database. See also Thomas J. Stevens III and Richard L. Kilmer, “A Descriptive and Comparative Analysis of Pesticide Residues Found in Florida Tomatoes and Strawberries,” University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, 1999.
Joseph Procacci agreed to take me: The Procacci interview took place on March 2, 2005.
To see the next phase: Steven A. Sargent, Jeffrey K. Brecht, and Teresa Olczyk, “Handling Florida Vegetables Series: Round and Roma Tomato Types,” University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, 1989, gives a good overview of postharvest tomato packing.
rise to 110 degrees: Jeffrey K. Brecht, a postharvest physiologist at the University of Florida Research Center, made this statement at a workshop for packinghouse managers in 2006: http://www.gladescropcare.com/GCC_TPHMW.pdf.
Despite such sanitation: See Program Information Manual: Retail Food Protection Storage and Handling of Tomatoes, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (June 10, 2010), http://www.fda.gov/food/foodsafety/retailfoodprotection/industryandregulatoryassistanceandtrainingresources/ucm113843.htm; and Martha Roberts, Florida Tomato Committee (in an address to the 2006 Florida Tomato Institute, http://www.gladescropcare.com/GCC_TPHMW.pdf).
Tower Cabins is a labor camp: “Why Was Carlitos Born This Way?”—the story of the birth defects in Immokalee—was broken on March 13, 2005, in the Palm Beach Post by reporter John Lantigua. I am in debt to Lantigua and his colleagues Christine Stapleton and Christine Evans for many of the details of this tragedy, which might never have come to light had it not been for their doggedness and insightfulness.
But in the lives of tomato workers: Geoffrey M. Calvert, Walter A. Alarcon, Ann Chelminski, Mark S. Crowley, Rosanna Barrett, Adolfo Correa, Sheila Higgins, Hugo L. Leon, Jane Correia, Alan Becker, Ruth M. Allen, and Elizabeth Evans, “Case Report: Three Farmworkers Give Birth to Infants with Birth Defects Closely Grouped in Time and Place—Florida and North Carolina, 2004–2005,” Environmental Health Perspectives vol. 115, no. 5 (May 2007): pp. 787–91.
Many of them were rated “highly toxic”: The Pesticide Action Network’s database for agricultural chemicals is http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Search_Chemicals.jsp#ChemSearch.
“restricted entry intervals”: For a list of pesticides used on tomatoes in Florida and their restricted entry intervals, see “Florida Crop/Pest Management Profiles: Tomatoes,” University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (March 2009). http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pi039.
Although regulations require: These regulations vary depending on which pesticide is used. For the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Worker Protection Standard for Agricultural Pesticides, see http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/twor.html.
As soon as I met him: Much of the background material in this chapter came from a June 2, 2010, interview with Andrew Yaffa.
In terms of raw quantities: “Agricultural Chemical Usage 2006 Vegetable Summary,” U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service (July 2007).
Employing only about fifty inspectors: “Abundance of Poisons, Shortage of Monitoring,” Palm Beach Post, May, 1, 2005.
workforce of roughly 400,000: “National Agricultural Workers Survey,” U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration, October 5, 2010 (Washington, D.C.).
Together for Agricultural Safety: See Joan Flocks, Leslie Clarke, Stan Albrecht, Carol Bryant, Paul Monaghan, and Holly Baker, “Implementing a Community-Based Social Marketing Project to Improve Agricultural Worker Health,” Environmental Health Perspectives Supplements vol. 109, no. S3 (June 2001): pp. 461–688.
less than 8 percent: John Lantigua, “Why Was Carlitos Born This Way?” Palm Beach Post, March 13, 2005.
leveled eighty-eight counts: Laura Layden, “Judge: Drop Most Violations against Ag-Mart,” Naples Daily News, March 23, 2007.
A scathing portrait: Shelly Davis and Rebecca Schleifer, “Indifference to Safety: Florida’s Investigation into Pesticide Poisoning of Farmworkers,” Farmworker Justice (1998), Washington, DC, http://www.farmworkerjustice.org/pesticides/173-indifference-to-safety.
agricultural workers are more likely to be poisoned: See Worker Health Chartbook, 2004, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institution for Occupational Safety and Health, p. 138. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2004-146/pdfs/2004-146.pdf.
Guadalupe Gonzales III: This information came from “Pesticide Use Inspection Report,” file no. 101-266-4076, “Gonzales III, Guadalupe,” acquired through a public records request to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs.
virtually no hard scientific research: See “Improvements Needed to Ensure the Safety of Farmworkers and Their Children,” U.S. General Accounting Office (March 2000), http://www.gao.gov/new.items/rc00040.pdf.
Leaning on her cane: I interviewed Linda Lee and Jeannie Economos on June 3, 2010.
In a survey of workers conducted: Ron Habin, “Lake Apopka Farmworkers Environmental Health Project Report on Community Health Survey,” Farmworker Association of Florida (May 2006).
Located fifteen miles northwest of Orlando: “Lake Apopka Timeline,” Friends of Lake Apopka, http://www.fola.org/PDFs/LakeApopkaTimeline.pdf.
In one sweet deal: Edward Ericson Jr., “A Cool Deal, Going Once, Going Twice,” Orlando Weekly, December 12, 1998.
researchers determined that the cause of the deaths was pesticide poisoning: See “Final Lake Apopka Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan,” United States Fish and Wildlife Service (June 2004). http://restoration.doi.gov/Case_Docs/Restoration_Docs/plans/FL_Lake_Apopka_RP_06-04.pdf.
One Sunday morning: Sara Olkon, “Pesticide Drift to Be Investigated: Churches Fear Effect of Toxin,” Miami Herald, February 22, 2001.
Subsequent air tests: Described in a joint press release from the Farmworker Association of Florida and the Friends of the Earth (February 22, 2001).
initiated thirty-nine investigations: Frederick M. Fishel and J. A. Ferrell, “Managing Pesticide Drift,” The University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pi232.
“This will kill agriculture”: This and the quotation later in the paragraph come from an article by Richard Dymond, “Growers Don’t Like the Smell of Zone Bill,” Bradenton Herald, June 9, 2007.
according to a 2009 report: Mark Mossierm, Michael J. Aerts, and O. Norman Nesheim, “Florida Crop/Pest Management Profiles: Tomatoes,” University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, CIR 1238 (revised March 2009).
a team led by Karen Klonsky: K. M. Klonsky and R. L. De Moura, “Sample Costs to Produce Processing Tomatoes,” University of California Davis, Cooperative Extension (2001); and “Production Practices and Sample Costs for Organic Processing Tomatoes in the Sacramento Valley,” University of California Davis, Cooperative Extension (1993–1994).
In Florida, nematodes: Stephen M. Olson and Bielinski Santos, eds., Vegetable Production Handbook for Florida 2010–2011, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (2010): pp. 29–38, 47–54.
the fumigant was approved: See “Extension of Conditional Registration of Iodomethane (Methyl Iodide),” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, August 13, 2009, http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/iodomethane_fs.htm.
despite a letter of warning: The letter was sent by Robert G. Bergman of the University of California Berkeley and Ronald Hoffmann of Cornell University to Stephen Johnson at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on September 24, 2007.
A report by the federal government: This was from U.S. State Department document “USA CUN11 SOIL TOMATOES Open Field,” a federal government application for an exemption to the methyl bromide ban on tomatoes submitted in 2009 for the year 2011.
There are already signs: Jacob Adelman, “Calif. Pesticide Opponents Deploy Florida Report,” San Jose Mercury News, September 14, 2010.
Dr. J. Routt Reigart: From the February 28, 2008, deposition of John R. Reigart, Case No. 06-001725, Circuit Court of the Thirteenth Judicial District in and for Hillsborough County, Florida, Division B, Francisca Herrera and Abraham Candelario v. Ag-Mart Produce, Inc.
Dr. Kenneth Rudo: From the July 9, 2007, deposition of Kenneth Mark Rudo, Case No. 06-001725, Circuit Court of the Thirteenth Judicial District in and for Hillsborough County, Florida, Division B, Francisca Herrera and Abraham Candelario v. Ag-Mart Produce, Inc.
On the morning of June 23, 2006: From the June 23, 2006, deposition of Francisca Herrera, Case No. 06-001725, Circuit Court of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Hillsborough County, Florida, Division B, Francisca Herrera and Abraham Candelario vs. Ag-Mart Produce, Inc.
After a break: From the June 23, 2006, deposition of Abraham Candelario Alphonso.
Cisneros and I agreed: Interviewed Cisneros on June 4, 2010. She also repeated much of what we spoke about during our lunch at her September 13, 2006, deposition. See above.
When word reached him: John Lantigua, “Produce Firm President Talks to Parents of Children with Defects,” Palm Beach Post, March 26, 2006.
Yaffa’s five-hour deposition: The deposition took place on August 22, 2006. See above.
To Yaffa’s disappointment: Laura Layden and Janie Zeitlin, “Health Officials: Pesticides Not Likely at Fault for Birth Defects,” Naples Daily News, October 13, 2005; and Geoffrey M. Calvert, Walter A. Alarcon, Ann Chelminski, Mark S. Crowley, Rosanna Barrett, Adolfo Correa, Sheila Higgins, Hugo L. Leon, Jane Correia, Alan Becker, Ruth M. Allen, and Elizabeth Evans, “Case Report: Three Farmworkers Give Birth to Infants with Birth Defects Closely Grouped in Time and Place—Florida and North Carolina, 2004–2005,” Environmental Health Perspectives vol. 115, no. 5 (May 2007): pp. 787–91.
In 2008 Moody’s rated greater Naples: See http://www.city-data.com/forum/business-finance-investing/314367-richest-cities-us-statistics.html.
Immokalee’s per capita: Data from the U.S. Census Bureau: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=immokalee&_cityTown=immokalee&_state=04000US12&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010.
Your chances of becoming a victim: From http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/fl/immokalee/crime/.
As a United States attorney: I interviewed Molloy on October 21, 2008.
From 2005 to 2007: Much of this information was obtained through court records related to United States of America v. Cesar Navarrete, Geovanni Navarrete, Villhina Navarrete, Ismael Michael Navarrete, Antonia Zuniga Vargas, United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers Division, Case no. 2:S07-cr-136-FtM-29DNF. On several occasions, I also interviewed members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers who had knowledge of the case. U.S. Attorney Douglas Molloy and Collier County Sherriff Charlie Frost sat for lengthy interviews. Anyone writing about the conditions in Immokalee owes an enormous debt to Amy Bennett Williams for her ongoing coverage of a story that most Floridians did not know about. U.S. Attorney Molloy told me that slavery could not survive if the light of the media was shone upon it. No one has brightened that dark corner of our society more than Williams.
“The food was terrible”: I interviewed Medel by telephone on November 15, 2010.
He allerted his colleague Charlie Frost: I interviewed Frost on October 21, 2008.
a total of about fifteen thousand: Due to the nature of the crime, human trafficking statistics are difficult to pin down. My source was the Polaris Project, http://nhtrc.polarisproject.org/images/nhtrcdocs/human-trafficking-statistics2.pdf. Data on murder rates came from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2009/index.html.
Slavery and agriculture have had a close relationship in Florida: See “An Examination of the History and Evolution of Slavery in Florida’s Fields,” Florida Modern-Day Slavery Museum, http://www.ciw-online.org/freedom_march/MuseumBookletWeb.pdf.
tranquility was shattered: See John Bowe, Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy (New York: Random House, 2007), p. 44.
It required four more years: All information about the Flores case came from United States of America v. Miguel A. Flores, Sebastian Gomez, Andres Ixcoy, and Nolasco Castaneda, District Court of the United States, District of South Carolina, Charleston Division, Criminal case no. 2:96.806, October 10, 1996; also U.S. Department of Justice press release http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/1997/November97/482cr.htm.html, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth District, United States of America v. Miguel A. Flores, No. 98-4178, http://vlex.com/vid/us-v-flores-18328685; and Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter, The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009), pp. 54–59.
Like Lucas Domingo: See Bales and Soodalter, pp. 49–50. Also see Department of Justice press release, http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/1999/May/216cr.htm.
Laura Germino is a slender woman: I interviewed Germino numerous times between October 2008 and September 2010 in person and on the telephone. Our tour of Lake Placid took place on March 24, 2010.
Ariosto Roblero was a Guatemalan: For an excellent chronicling of the Ramos case see John Bowe, Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy (New York: Random House, 2007), pp. 3–77. See also United States of America v. Ramiro Ramos, Juan Ramos, and Jose Ramos, District Court of the United States, Southern District of Florida, case no. 01-14019-CR.
Jose Navarrete broke down: Amy Bennett Williams, “Five Plead Guilty in Immokalee Slavery Case,” Fort Myers News-Press, September 3, 2008.
That day arrived: Amy Bennett Williams, “Immokalee Family Sentenced for Slavery,” Fort Myers News-Press, December 20, 2008.
awarded a farmer: See Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association press release, http://www.ffva.com/iMISpublic/AM/Images/Layout_Assets/1508site_1508_20080325T143026/pdf%20library/distinguishedservice.pdf.
Viacava, the Navarretes’ defense attorney: See Amy Bennett Williams, “Immokalee Family Sentenced for Slavery,” Fort Myers News-Press, December 20, 2008.
According to testimony: For a reference to Orrin Hatch’s efforts to remove “knowing or having reason to know,” see written testimony of Lucas Benitez, Joint General Interest Hearing Regarding the Rights of Migrant Workers in the United States, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Hearing. 122nd period of Sessions (March 3, 2005).
I met Geraldo Reyes: This meeting and interview occurred on October 20, 2008.
life expectancy of a migrant worker: Alberto Moreno, Migrant Health Fact Sheet, Oregon Department of Human Services (July 2010), http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/omh/migrant/migranthealthfactsheet.pdf.
According to U.S. Labor Department figures: See “National Agricultural Workers Survey,” U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration, http://www.doleta.gov/agworker/naws.cfm.
Reyes introduced me to a worker named Emilio Galindo: The interview with Galindo took place on March 24, 2010.
Leaning wearily against the railing: The events described in this paragraph and the next took place on October 20, 2008.
Pascuala Sanchez and her three children: Larry Hannan and Ryan Mills, “Grief Grips Immokalee,” Naples Daily News, March 6, 2007; Katy Bishop and Ryan Mills, “$6M Settlement Reached in Deadly Immokalee Trailer Park Fire,” Naples Daily News, September 12, 2007.
where one-quarter of the residences: Janine Zeitlin, “Not Giving Up on Fixing Up Immokalee Housing,” Naples Daily News, October 22, 2006.
After touring Immokalee in 2008, Senator Bernie Sanders: See the transcript of the Hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, United States Senate, One Hundred and Tenth Congress Second Session on Examining Abuses and Improving Working Conditions for Tomato Workers (April 15, 2008). http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_senate_hearing&docid=41-881.
attempt to shutter: Tracy X. Miguel, “Immokalee Migrant Workers Could Lose Their Homes Due to Collier Zoning Violations,” Naples Daily News, January 18, 2009.
One of the reasons that rents: The explanation of why rents are so high in Immokalee and the description of the workers gathered at La Fiesta as being “the bottom of the bottom” of America’s workforce came from an interview with Greg Asbed of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, October 20, 2008.
One morning I encountered Lucas Benitez: The meeting and interview took place October 20, 2008. Benitez provided background on the coalition’s early activities.
strikers began to weaken: Donald P. Baker, “Florida Farm Workers Fast for Better Wages,” Washington Post, January 13, 1998.
Campaign for Fair Food: For details about the campaign, see the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Web site, http://www.ciw-online.org.
grape boycotts mounted by Cesar Chavez: For an excellent account of Chavez’s activities see Miriam Pawel, The Union of Their Dreams: Power, Hope, and Struggle in Cesar Chavez’s Farm Worker Movement (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009).
“New Hedonism Generation”: See http://www.ciw-online.org/tbnyoumatrix.html.
At a 2003 shareholders’ meeting: See http://www.thefreelibrary.com/YUM+Brands+Shareholders+Demonstrate+Strong+Support+for+Proposal...-a0101935074.
Internet pseudonym surfxaholic36: Amy Bennett Williams, “Burger King Exec Uses Daughter’s Online ID to Chide Immokalee Coalition,” Fort Myers News-Press, April 28, 2008.
textbook-quality public relations flub: Elaine Walker, “Tomato Companies, Workers and Fast Food Firms Square Off,” Miami Herald, November 20, 2007.
exiled Brazilian scholar: Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Continuum, 2000).
$100,000 fine: See Steven Greenhouse, “Tomato Pickers’ Wages Fight Faces Obstacles,” the New York Times, December 24, 2007.
Technically, Brown has three jobs: I interviewed Brown on June 3, 2010.
I encountered a grower named Joe Procacci: I interviewed Procacci on March 2, 2005.
Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937: See http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5067868.
By taking on Procacci: For a company profile and history, see Doug Ohlemeier, “Procacci Bros. Marks 60 Years in Business,” The Packer, January 9, 2001.
introduced legislation that would specifically exempt UglyRipes: See http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/06-5833.htm.
Florida tomato growers have been falling further behind: John J. Van Sickle, “Spatial and Vertical Price Transmission in Fresh Produce Markets” (presented at the Agricultural Markets Workshop, April 21, 2006).
In the last three decades: I arrived at these figures by comparing the Consumer Price Index with the Producer Price Index for fresh-market, field-grown tomatoes as determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1212.
a market that was awash: See Liam Pleven and Carolyn Cui, “Dying on the Vine: Tomato Prices—Tomatoes Go from Shortage to Glut in a Matter of Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2010.
a massive salmonella outbreak: See Mickie Anderson, “UF Research Finds Salmonella Responds Differently to Varieties, Ripeness,” University of Florida News, September 21, 2010.
Mexican imports accounted for about one-fifth: See “Vegetables and Melons: Tomatoes” briefing, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (updated October 5, 2009).
Mexico agreed to a settlement: Eili Klein, “Rotten Tomatoes! The Mexican Growers Tomato Suspension Agreement and Its Effects on Mexico’s Market Share: A Constant Market Shares Approach,” Johns Hopkins School of International Studies, April 2004. http://www.princeton.edu/~eklein/pubs/MexicoMarketShareCMS_u2.pdf.
The skeptics’ position was vindicated: See Elaine Walker, “Tomato Companies, Workers and Fast Food Firms Square Off,” Miami Herald, November 20, 2007.
Brown was given an opportunity: For a transcript of the U.S. Senate committee hearing, see http://help.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=0d03081e-0186-dc43-8fdf-0d68cfc2fc80.
Crist agreed to meet: Bill Maxwell, “Gov. Crist Backs Farmworkers,” St. Petersburg Times, April 5, 2009.
Five months later: See Amy Bennett Williams, “Tomato Struggle Over after Immokalee Coalition Signs Historic Deal,” Fort Myers News-Press, November 17, 2010.
I met John Warner Scott: I interviewed Scott in person on February 22, 2010. We also had several follow-up telephone conversations.
As for the reasonably fresh tomatoes: Thomas Whiteside, “Tomatoes,” the New Yorker, January 24, 1977.
a tomato can lose its taste if exposed to cold temperatures: Trevor V. Suslow and Marita Cantwell, “Tomato Recommendations for Maintaining Postharvest Quality,” University of California, Postharvest Technology Research and Information Center, February 10, 2009, http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Produce/ProduceFacts/Veg/tomato.shtml.
Harry Klee, a fellow University of Florida professor: I interviewed Klee in person on February 23, 2010. We also had several follow-up telephone conversations.
In consultation with Howard Moskowitz: For more about Moskowitz’s work, see Malcolm Gladwell, “The Ketchup Conundrum,” the New Yorker, September 6, 2004, http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_09_06_a_ketchup.html.
Tom Beddard had provided me: I interviewed Beddard on October 13, 2010.
Schell chose a radically different path: I interviewed Schell on June 21, 2010.
His most immediate problem: See Saulo Mesa et al v. Ag-Mart Produce, Inc., Case no. 2:07-cv-47-FtM-34DNF, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers Division, http://dockets.justia.com/docket/florida/flmdce/2:2007cv00047/190427/. Also Laura Layden, “Thousands of Ag-Mart Workers May Be Eligible for Money,” Naples Daily News, April 29, 2010.
Barbara Mainster cracked open a door: I interviewed Mainster on October 13, 2010.
In truth government grants: See Redlands Christian Migrant Association 2008–2009 Annual Report. http://www.rcma.org/annual%20report/RCMAannualrept2008-2009.pdf.
hired Steven Kirk to oversee reconstruction: I interviewed Kirk on October 14, 2010.
an umbrella organization called Rural Neighborhoods: See http://www.faqs.org/tax-exempt/FL/Rural-Neighborhoods-Incorporated.html#revenue_a.
Tim Stark and I were in his pickup truck: I interviewed Stark on September 14 and 15, 2010.
in his 2008 memoir: Tim Stark, Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer, (New York: Broadway Books, 2008).
Stark told an NPR interviewer: See “Heirloom Tomato Farmer Finds Beauty in the Ugly, August 8, 2008,” http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93356124.
Stark was still grumbling: Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld, New York, August 15, 2010, http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/67495/.
I was reminded of a passage: Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (New York: Penguin, 2006), pp. 249–50.
just outside Tembladera: For more information about the 2009 trip, see http://irbtomato.blogspot.com/.