The highly competitive nature of the food market means that wages generally have to be kept incredibly low for farms to be profitable. Consumers typically buy into this bargain as they want the lowest prices for their food, even if they say they would be happy to pay a bit extra for more responsible farming to become the norm, this seldom translates into changes in buyer behavior.

This results in migrant farmworkers often housed in extremely cramped conditions and given little opportunity to integrate into the host culture. These awful conditions are largely ignored by authorities, with recruiters doing all they can to prevent any collective bargaining that may improve the workers' lot.

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