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1/ For eight years, Marco Antonio Galvan Gomez would leave his home in Mexico to work at Larsen Farms, one of the biggest potato producers in the U.S.
At the end of each season, he always came back to his family.
This time, only his ashes returned. https://www.texasobserver.org/larsen-farms-dalhart-farmworker-death/
At the end of each season, he always came back to his family.
This time, only his ashes returned. https://www.texasobserver.org/larsen-farms-dalhart-farmworker-death/
2/ Galvan came to Larsen Farms—located in Dalhart—on an H-2A visa, a guestworker program for agricultural employers.
This year, that meant traveling in the middle of a global pandemic that had already hit the rural Panhandle especially hard. https://www.texasobserver.org/covid-19-has-infected-workers-at-a-tyson-beef-plant-in-amarillo-employees-say/
This year, that meant traveling in the middle of a global pandemic that had already hit the rural Panhandle especially hard. https://www.texasobserver.org/covid-19-has-infected-workers-at-a-tyson-beef-plant-in-amarillo-employees-say/
3/ The novel coronavirus shuttered businesses in the Panhandle and across the nation for months, but Galvan and his co-workers were deemed “essential” by the federal government. As a result, they endured perilous working conditions. https://www.texasobserver.org/larsen-farms-dalhart-farmworker-death/
4/ Less than two weeks after arriving at Larsen Farms, Galvan tested positive for COVID-19. He died of complications shortly after. https://www.texasobserver.org/larsen-farms-dalhart-farmworker-death/
5/ Farmworker advocates are concerned the pandemic exacerbates existing health and safety risks associated with overcrowded housing and shared transportation, increasing the risk of infection and community spread.
https://www.texasobserver.org/larsen-farms-dalhart-farmworker-death/
https://www.texasobserver.org/larsen-farms-dalhart-farmworker-death/
6/ An analysis conducted by @FERNnews estimates 6,830 COVID-19 cases among farmworkers in 17 states, though that figure is likely an undercount due to sparse reporting and testing. https://thefern.org/2020/04/mapping-covid-19-in-meat-and-food-processing-plants/
7/ Larsen Farms employs more than 400 people and annually recruits roughly 100 H-2A workers. Up to 11 H-2A workers are certified to live in a single shared trailer, U.S. Department of Labor documents indicate. https://www.texasobserver.org/larsen-farms-dalhart-farmworker-death/
8/ Across the country, H-2A workers live in isolated employer-controlled housing and depend upon their employer for transportation to access basic needs. Long hours, with only Sundays off, make it difficult to access services during normal business hours. https://www.texasobserver.org/larsen-farms-dalhart-farmworker-death/
9/ Larsen Farms was a difficult place to work before the pandemic. Farmworkers say they’ve experienced wage theft, injury, and retaliation. In 2015, @TRLA represented Larsen Farms employees in a federal lawsuit against the farm. It was settled in 2016.
https://www.texasobserver.org/larsen-farms-dalhart-farmworker-death/
https://www.texasobserver.org/larsen-farms-dalhart-farmworker-death/
10/ Neither the feds nor state officials have done much to protect agricultural workers before the virus came or as COVID-19 tore through rural communities with limited resources. How many people have to die before they do? https://www.texasobserver.org/larsen-farms-dalhart-farmworker-death/
11/ “Death in Dalhart,” by Dana Ullman, was co-produced with @FERNnews: https://www.texasobserver.org/larsen-farms-dalhart-farmworker-death/
