![]() On the same land outside Guadalupe where family farms raised dairy cows not long ago, strawberry farms now employ thousands of migrant workers. It is risky and expensive to grow, but it can yield more revenue per acre than virtually any other crop except marijuana. The strawberry is one of the most labor-intensive row crops. Twenty years ago there were about 800 acres of strawberries in the Santa Maria Valley today there are about seven times that number. In the early-morning light it looks like a scene out of the distant past, the last remnant of a vanishing way of life-and yet nothing could be further from the truth. When the sun rises from behind the coastal range, crews of thirty assemble at the edges of huge fields and start picking strawberries, slowly making their way down the long furrows, hundreds of men and women bent over at the waist, grabbing fruit with both hands. Two young men ride bicycles most likely they slept outdoors. A handful of workers walk along the shoulder of the road, silhouetted by headlights. As dawn approaches, the procession of old Buicks, pickups, ancient school buses towing portable toilets, and beat-up vans heads for the neighboring fields. Here Highway 1 becomes Guadalupe's main drag, lined with Mexican restaurants, boarded-up storefronts, and bars. ![]() Soon a long line of vehicles is double-parked along Highway 1, awaiting passengers-not the spectacular Highway 1 that hugs the Pacific but a less familiar stretch, four miles inland amid the Santa Maria Valley, halfway between Los Angeles and Salinas. From a distance they seem draped in brightly colored veils. ![]() The women have scarves and bandannas wrapped over their hair, hung around their necks, and tied across their faces, so that only their eyes can be seen. The men wear straw cowboy hats or baseball caps, windbreakers on this cool morning, sneakers, and ragged work clothes. Just before sunrise farm workers appear on the streets of Guadalupe, California, emerging from the small houses, backyard sheds, basements, and garages where they spent the night. ![]()
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