by CHRISTINA GUERRERO

As he drives through the El Milagro de Baja farm fields, located in San Quintín and Camalú, Mexico, Alfonso Santiago Velazco, the head security guard for El Milagro de Baja, tells me how the work culture used to be different. Workers were too intimidated to report problems on farms—from working conditions to safety concerns—where the culture was to keep your head down.

“I have seen many changes and we have also seen how people themselves have collaborated to give their point of view. They have known their rights as well as their obligations,” says Santiago Velazco, who was elected by fellow workers to be part of a team to help improve conditions on the farm. “We have seen a result, not only in work, but in the way [workers] live in and out of the field.”