In Life on the Other Border: Farmworkers and Food Justice in Vermont, University of Vermont Professor Teresa M. Mares documents widespread food insecurity among Vermont’s undocumented migrant farmworker population.

“Food insecurity is about getting enough food and the right kind of food,” says Mares, “but it’s also about the emotional and mental health impacts of being isolated and constantly under stress and anxiety – being worried about food. That is a further troubling aspect of the migrant farm worker experience in Vermont.”

While Mares’ book paints an alarming picture of the living and working conditions of farmworkers in Vermont, it also traces the immense progress that has been made in recent years by migrant rights and labor organizing groups like Migrant Justice.

“Migrant farm workers face structural challenges that call for structural solutions,” says Mares, such as Migrant Justice’s worker-driven Milk with Dignity (MD) program, based on a binding agreement that commits Ben & Jerry’s to implement a worker-driven human rights program in its Northeast dairy supply chain.