Ninety-one percent of farmworkers in California are foreign born, primarily from Mexico, according to the United States Department of Labor. Because an estimated half of agricultural workers in the Salinas Valley are in the country illegally, many do not have health insurance and go without treatment until symptoms become acute. PhotoSome farmworkers in the Salinas Valley sleep next to the vegetables they cannot afford to buy. “We will buy a big bag of beans instead of a little thing of broccoli for $2 that won’t feed even one person.”Only an hour south of Silicon Valley, the Salinas Valley is a rural setting with urban prices. The food bank gives out about five million meals a year and is raising money to build a large food warehouse on a six-acre plot.

Source: New York Times November 23, 2016 12:11 UTC