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Cultural Issues in Processing Plants and on Farms

Department of Agriculture and Agriculture Stewardship Center, Dordt College, 498 4th Street NE, Sioux Center, Iowa 51250

Correspondence: W. V. Jamison, E-mail: wjamison{at}dordt.edu

Poultry processing plants are increasingly reliant on immigrant laborers as a supply of willing, unskilled workers. Likewise, poultry farmers also recruit and employ immigrants for menial tasks and upkeep on farms. The primary reasons for immigrant labor in the poultry industry include readily available employment, willing employers who actively seek immigrants, and the competitive advantages of an immigrant workforce. Although these immigrants have had an impact on poultry producing regions, little discussion has developed over the social and political implications of these immigrants. Nonetheless, several authors have recently forwarded arguments about these impacts: some argue that the new immigrants will fail to assimilate and enculturate, thus causing a fraying of local and national social structures, whereas others argue that American culture will become accomodationist as immigrants assimilate, thus forging a new American demographic that is still nonetheless American. This paper argues that assimilation and enculturation will be episodic and by no means certain but dependent on social-demographic factors for success. Likewise, practical impacts of immigration in plants and on farms are discussed.

Key Words: Latino • immigration • assimilation • social infrastructure