Food security status of farmworkers participating in the Fresno Farmworker Food Security. Assessment ... Figure 2. Food Security and Documentation Status .
HUNGER IN THE FIELDS: FOOD INSECURITY AMONG FARMWORKERS IN FRESNO COUNTY
CATHY WIRTH RON STROCHLIC CHRISTY GETZ
NOVEMBER 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................ii TABLE OF F IGURES ........................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .....................................................................................................................iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY......................................................................................................................v INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 1 BACKGROUND.................................................................................................................................. 1 RESEARCH M ETHODS ....................................................................................................................... 4 Goals and Objectives .................................................................................................................. 4 Assessment Location................................................................................................................... 4 Survey Design ............................................................................................................................. 5 Survey Administration................................................................................................................ 6 Sub-Sample of Native Mixteco Speakers ................................................................................... 6 Additional Assessment Components .......................................................................................... 7 Data Management and Analysis ................................................................................................. 7 RESULTS .......................................................................................................................................... 8 Demographics ............................................................................................................................. 8 Prevalence of Food Insecurity..................................................................................................... 9 Causes of Food Insecurity......................................................................................................... 10 Seasonal Differences in Food Security..................................................................................... 12 Fruit/Vegetable and Fat Consumption...................................................................................... 13 Predictors of Fruit/Vegetable and Fat Consumption ................................................................ 14 Seasonal Differences in Fruit/Vegetable and Fat Consumption............................................... 16 Additional Barriers to Fruit/Vegetable Consumption............................................................... 16 Access to Food Assistance Programs ....................................................................................... 18 Results for Mixteco Farmworkers ............................................................................................ 20 RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................... 22 Reducing Food Insecurity and Hunger ..................................................................................... 22 Increasing Fruit and Vegetable Consumption........................................................................... 23 Reaching out to Mixteco-Speaking Farmworkers .................................................................... 24 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 24 APPENDIX A: DEFINING AND MEASURING FOOD S ECURITY .......................................................... 29
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TABLE OF F IGURES Table 1. Selected demographic characteristics of the Fresno Farmworker Food Security Assessment sample (n=394), as compared to demographic data for California farmworkers from the 2003-2004 National Agricultural Workers Survey. ................................................................................................9 Figure 1. Food security status of farmworkers participating in the Fresno Farmworker Food Security Assessment (n=394)............................................................................................................................9 Table 2. Percent of respondents answering affirmatively to select questions related to adult and child food insecurity on the U.S. Household Food Security/Hunger Survey Module..............................................10 Table 3. Mean income for respondents at varying levels of food security. .............................................11 Figure 2. Food Security and Documentation Status .............................................................................11 Figure 3. Percentage of food secure respondents that migrate and do not migrate..................................12 Figure 4. Seasonal differences in food security status among Fresno Farmworker Food Security Assessment respondents (n=394). ......................................................................................................13 Table 4. Summary statistics for key variables during the winter and summer. All differences are statistically significant at p
