The Harvest

The Story of the Children Who Feed America

THE HARVEST/LA COSECHA is the story of the children who work as many as 12 hours a day, six months a year in the scorching hot sun, without the protection of child labor laws. These children are not toiling in the fields in some far away land. They are working here, in our back yard, in America.

Not since the work of Walker Evans, has the world of these agricultural workers been so vividly and intimately depicted. More than 400,000 migrant child workers in the US journey from their homes traveling from state to state, farm to farm, crop to crop, picking the produce we all eat. Many of these children are American citizens. All are working to help their families survive while sacrificing the birthright of childhood: play; stability; school. The film profiles three of them as they work through the 2009 harvest. Whose families will be “lucky” enough to get work? Which families will be separated? Which will be deported or injured or killed? Will any manage to keep their dreams alive?

THE HARVEST/LA COSECHA follows three children:

Zulema Lopez, 12, thinks of nothing but working in the fields, and one of her earliest childhood memories is of her mother teaching her how to pick and clean strawberries. Having attended 8 schools in the last 8 years, she struggles to keep up and is afraid she may not make it to high school. When asked what her dreams are, she replies that she doesn’t have time for them.

Perla Sanchez, 14, travels with her large family to pick crops across the United States. The only benefit for Perla of continuing to migrate on the harvest with her family is that it will insulate her from the other perils inherent in being a teenage Latina with limited resources. If she stays in Texas, she is unsure if she will be able to resist the lure of gang life. She dreams of becoming a lawyer so that she can help other migrant workers who struggle to make ends meet.

Victor Huapilla is a 16 year-old living in Florida. His family migrated to the US when he was young looking for a better life and is on the path to full citizenship. To help support his family, Victor has had to balance his time between harvesting and going to school and his education suffers. While Victor is often in the fields, he’s glad his younger sisters are still spared the ordeal of picking up to 1500 pounds of tomatoes a day. But the expenses of legally bringing his two older sisters to America bankrupts the family and they can’t afford to migrate for work. Will they be able to keep the family together?