Fall, 1992 (v5n1)
Wright, Angus
University of Texas Press. 1990
Angus Wright's carefully documented book about agriculture in
modern Mexico weaves together field observations, personal interviews,
and scholarly reports to raise fundamental questions about the
use and abuse of pesticides. Wright is professor of environmental
studies at California State University, Sacramento. He went to
Mexico seeking to understand why pesticide poisonings of migrant
workers have become so common, and what could be done to prevent
them. He left convinced that pesticide abuse is rooted in unjust
social conditions stemming from regional inequities introduced
into rural Mexico by the Green Revolution.
The book's centerpiece is the story of how the Culiacan Valley
in northwest Mexico was transformed from a quiet rural hamlet
into a center of pesticide-intensive agriculture devoted to exporting
vegetables to the United States. Wright shows how Culiacan's
new wealth was purchased at the cost of the environmental and
economic decline of traditional agriculture in the Mixtec region
of Oaxaca, and the exploitation of the workers who fled that region
in desperation to seek out work in Culiacan's fields.
Many parts of this story have been told before, but Wright weaves
them together into a complex, coherent picture which links technical
concerns about pesticide practices to their cultural and political
context. For example, Wright documents the recent trend toward
greater use of "nonpersistent pesticides," chemicals
which leave few lasting residues in food or the environment, but
are still dangerous upon immediate exposure in the field. He
notes that this shift has weakened the political linkages between
farm workers and consumers. As he puts it, "The precise
degree of linkage between consumer interests, environmental interests,
and the interests of farm workers and rural residents is not a
given but rather changes as the technology of pesticides changes,
severely complicating judgements about what constitutes safe pesticides"
(p.202).
A key theme of the book is that the problems inherent in modern
agricultural production are primarily political; "not the
obstacles thrown up by cruel nature, but adversities created by
unresolved human conflict" (p.285). Solving pesticide problems
will thus require comprehensive political changes rather than
simple campaigns to educate workers and growers:
"The problem is that ignorance and unregulated promotion
of dangerous technologies are intimately tied to the political
relationships and the ideological assumptions that determine how
a nation is ruled. Abusive use of pesticides is usually the result
of a whole set of problems that indicate the loyalties and purposes
of the people and groups who hold power. The problem of tens
of thousands of acres of fine farmland given over to large-scale
commercial production of crops through abusive use of pesticides
by millionaire farmers is strongly related to the continued powerlessness
of peasants and farm workers and their relative ignorance of the
safeguards needed in applying modern technologies. This situation
is in turn related to much broader political and economic issues
involving a nation's relationship with the rest of the world.
The fact that 70% of the pesticides used in the Third World are
used on products for export to wealthy nations expresses the strong
connection of pesticide abuse to the particular kind of relationship
that predominates between rich and poor countries. In addition,
the Mixtec farm workers who tie Culiacan to the collapsing traditional
regions in Mexico also tie Mexico to California, Texas, Arizona
and force us to ask how the unequal development of Mexico will
affect the future of the United States" (pp.217-18).
Wright's point of departure is the death of a young Mixtec named
Ramon Gonzalez (the name was fictionalized for the study) while
picking tomatoes as a migrant laborer in the Culiacan Valley.
Though definitive evidence is hard to come by, the cause of his
death was most likely pesticide poisoning. Like the overwhelming
majority of workers Wright observed, Ramon worked in close contact
with dangerous chemicals without having been provided with any
of the recommended safety equipment. In addition, he had to bathe
in an irrigation ditch that contained pesticide residues. Wright's
pursuit of these details soon led him to broader inquiry into
how the logic of agricultural development in Mexico led Ramon
to be working under such dangerous conditions.
The family of Ramon Gonzalez was from Oaxaca in southern Mexico,
a Mixtec region whose culture runs back over a thousand years.
Drawing on first-hand observations, Wright offers a sympathetic
portrait of this region and its people. He describes in detail
their tradition of subsistence agriculture and the cultural underpinnings
of that tradition. Over the centuries the Mixtec emphasis on
economic security and community solidarity has come into conflict
with the alternative values and practices of various ruling elites
in Mexico. As Wright succinctly puts it, "Peasants dream
of relatively autonomous rural communities within what is presumed
to be a closed natural system. Elites dream of greater consumption,
growth, and monumental undertakings" (p.186).
During the 1940s, these competing world views clashed when Avila
Camacho replaced Lazaro Cardenas as President. Cardenas had instituted
policies that strengthened rural regions by redistributing land
to peasants, while Camacho instituted new policies to boost agricultural
productivity via exports. Camacho invited Rockefeller Foundation
scientists into the country, and the Green Revolution was born.
Wright characterizes the results:
"If the drive for industrialization creates severe regional
inequalities, more damage is done. This is especially clear in
the case that is the centerpiece of this book-the brutal exploitation
of the poverty and environmental ruin of one region to promote
reckless, environmentally destructive growth in another-the relationship
that ties Culiacan to the Mixteca. The problems of the poorer
region deepen, and the very cheapness and abundance of labor flowing
out of the poor region encourage a cavalier attitude toward the
health and loyalty of workers. Because workers are abundant and
desperate, they are considered expendable."
Wright demonstrates how the narrow technical perspective of Green
Revolution scientists contributed directly to the plan's social
and environmental failures. Many of these failures were predicted
by early critics of the plan who had a greater understanding of
Mexico's history, culture and politics. Wright's review of this
history makes a powerful case for why a systems approach to agricultural
development is needed.
Wright believes that the logic of agricultural modernization in
Mexico, and its dependence on pesticides, is technically and politically
self-defeating. Created to boost industrialization and create
a wealthier and healthier society, the modernization program has
instead enriched a few rich producers while undermining the environmental
and social health of the majority. The drain of rising health
and welfare expenses, and social pressures resulting from massive
migration into the cities, stand in the way of further economic
progress. At the same time, persistent problems with pest resistance
and declining soil quality make it doubtful that current levels
of agricultural production can be maintained.
The root problems, says the author are flawed assumptions about
the role of agriculture in making a nation prosperous. Wright
concludes by raising five questions which are as relevant to California
agriculture as to Mexico: "Is productivity the problem?
Are traditional technologies an obstacle or a resource? Should
agriculture serve as the instrument for industrialization? Is
agriculture vitally linked to wild nature? Are technologies neutral?"
His answers will not be shared by all readers, but are grounded
in arguments that cannot be ignored.
Wright's story helps illuminate the powerful social and political
forces that compel increasing numbers of Mexicans to become migrant
laborers here in California. It is estimated that between 30-40%
of the agricultural workforce in the San Joaquin Valley are Mixtec
(see Components 1(4):10-11). Wright admires the capacity
of the Mixtecs to band together to preserve their culture against
overwhelming odds, and sees in this capacity a cultural building-block
for creating a more sustainable agriculture: "I came to
believe that the amazing capacity of many of Mexico's poorest
people for sustained effort in a single direction and for solidarity
among themselves under trying circumstances could together be
a significant force toward a healthier society and a more sustainable
agriculture. But those people will need allies" (p. xv).
For more information write to: Angus Wright, Department of Environmental
Studies, California State University, Sacramento, CA 95819.
(DCC.OO1)
Contributed by David Campbell
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