Migrant farm workers deserve safe working conditions

Re Migrant farm workers left exposed and vulnerable to COVID-19, June 25

Star columnist Bruce Arthur has given Canadians a glimpse of the true prices embedded in our grocery purchases. The COVID-19 pandemic has unveiled the willingness of consumers to enjoy low food cost, thanks to low labour costs whether at home or abroad.

Since the Second World War, the unrelenting rise of industrial agriculture and global trade has turned food into a commodity, subject to the supply and demand of the world market. Trade agreements have produced winners and losers. For example, the two million farmers in Mexico who lost their farms after NAFTA was signed. Some of those farmers may be working in Ontario now, or maybe their children.

When migrant workers are becoming sick and dying in our own province, it is time to ask ourselves who bears the uncounted costs of food production. Ruth Allen, Toronto