Farmworker successes and struggles in politics

Senate Agriculture Committee to study plight of Lake Apopka Farmworkers

The Senate Agriculture Committee plans to study the plight of Lake Apopka farmworkers following Gov. Rick Scott's veto of a related $500,000 appropriation.

Portions of Lake Apopka north of Orlando were diked and drained during World War II to provide for vegetable farming. Farmworkers say they were routinely exposed to pesticides prior to 1998, when the state purchased and closed the muck farms to restore Lake Apopka water quality.

Read more here.

Lake Apopka Farmworkers lose out on hope for increased healthcare coverage – use quilts to promote cause

APOPKA — The former farmworkers of Apopka lost something they never had recently – the possibility of adequate, community-wide health care.
But they still have their quilts, and are using them to promote their cause.
At one point, the new state budget had a $500,000 item devoted to the special health needs of this predominantly African-American community, courtesy of state Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando. Butr that money got cut out of the budget on May 26, the day Gov. Rick Scott signed it into law during a ceremony in The Villages.
But the community still has its quilts.

Read more here.