Labor and Legibility: Mexican Immigrant Farmers and Resource Access at the US Department of Agriculture

Following a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) staff member in her white sedan with government plates, we drove our own unmarked rental car along a winding country highway. We passed corn and soybean fields, farmhouses, and a small downtown with a few local businesses. We drove up a gravel driveway and parked behind the USDA car. Trailing the staff member, a white female soil conservationist, we walked unannounced onto a farm with a few acres of diverse vegetables, a farmhouse, a shed, and a hoop house. The hoop house had been financed through a grant from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), giving the staff member rights to visit and inspect the structure and property randomly for the first three years in order to validate that it is code compliant and being used properly. The farm we visited is owned and operated by a Mexican immigrant farmer, one of a small number of immigrant farmers who directly participate in a USDAfunded program. USDA staff in the Northern Neck of Virginia promote the hoop house, or “high tunnel,” installation program to local vegetable farmers. These tunnelshaped greenhouses allow farmers to start their seeds and get their crops to market earlier in the season. The USDA covers the entire cost of the hoop house. In exchange, the farmer must agree to keep it in production for a minimum of three years, maintain meticulous records of their growing practices and finances, and allow USDA officials onto their property unannounced. This program is one of a variety of financial assistance opportunities for smalland mediumscale fruit and vegetable farmers through the USDA’s NRCS and Farm Service Agency (FSA) (Farm Service Agency 2015). 7 Labor and Legibility: Mexican Immigrant Farmers and Resource Access at the US Department of Agriculture