A System for Abundance
The postwar United States largely enjoyed an abundant and widely affordable food supply. New technologies and applications of science—many of which originated during World War II to support military efforts—helped make this possible. Agricultural researchers developed new ways to control pests and weeds, fertilize crops, manipulate genetic material, and stimulate growth of livestock. Food companies centralized and automated production in modern factories, transforming the raw materials of agriculture into higher volumes of canned, frozen, and processed foods in less time and with fewer workers.
A Seasonless Vegetable
By 1950, iceberg lettuce was consumed more than any other vegetable in the United States. Much of the nation’s supply grew year-round on large, centralized farms in California’s Salinas Valley. Iceberg had been shipped cross-country in ice-packed rail cars since the 1920s. But in the early 1950s, a new vacuum technology, repurposed from World War II, cooled lettuce more effectively than ice, resulting in less spoilage. Once packed in wooden crates that could withstand melting ice, lettuce could now be field-packed in lighter, cardboard boxes, eliminating the need for a separate warehouse and packing staff.
Field to Fridge
Large-scale, centralized production detached most consumers from the growing, shipping, and packaging of their food. As distances expanded between where food was grown and where people lived, most Americans were freed from the labor-intensive steps of food production—and less aware of their importance.
Magazine advertisements from the 1950s and 1960s revealed a few of the steps that brought lettuce to supermarkets across the country, and a few of the interests invested in large-scale lettuce production.
Field Work
The shift to large-scale field and food production involved changes in labor and technology. Labor shortages during World War II led to the Bracero Program, which, between 1942 and 1964, brought more than two million Mexican men to the United States to work on short-term contracts. Labor unions such as the United Farm Workers sought to organize farm workers and fight for better wages and working conditions. They also staged boycotts to bring attention to these issues. Many growers turned to technological innovations to save costs, cut dependence on labor, and increase efficiency.
Braceros in the Salinas Valley, 1956
Courtesy of Leonard Nadel Bracero Photographs, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Photojournalist Leonard Nadel traveled through Mexico, Texas, and California in 1956 and 1957 documenting the poor housing and working conditions of Mexican braceros. His more than 1,000 photographs helped U.S. labor and religious groups put an end to the program.
Lettuce hump, 1960s
Gift of Jerry Pepelis
Field laborers used the hump to pack and move boxes of lettuce. Each box held about twenty-four to thirty heads. This hump was used in the California fields of the Jerry Pepelis Packing Company from 1960 until 1964, when the Bracero Program ended.
[C]on una mano, tenía que ir azadonazo y con la otra tenía que ir quitando el, las matitas, a dejar una sola—una sola matita—una sola matita.
You hoed the plant with one hand and with the other hand you removed the stems to leave just one—one little stem—one little stem.
—José Natividad Alva Medina
Short-handled hoe, 1950s and 1960s
Gift of Luis Diaz Zavala
Migrant farm workers had to use the short-handled hoe—el cortito—for thinning and weeding. Because it required them to stoop during long hours in the fields, the short-handled hoe became a symbol of the exploitive working conditions. Campaigns by the United Farm Workers and others helped outlaw its use in 1975.
Hat, around 1957
Gift of Jason Ramierez Zavala in honor of the Ramierez Zavala Family
Savas Zahvala Castro wore this hat when he was a bracero working in California.
Machine harvesting, 1955
LIFE magazine, January 3, 1955
This tractor-powered rig was an early attempt to bring assembly-line efficiency to lettuce picking. It held a team of thirty who could pick, trim, and pack 7,200 heads an hour. The grower reported that his labor costs dropped from two cents per head of lettuce to half a cent.
Labor poster, around 1971
Gift of John A. Armendariz
In 1970, the United Farm Workers launched a nationwide boycott as part of a campaign to secure collective-bargaining rights for migrant farm laborers. The strike, lasting until 1978, brought attention to the wages and working conditions behind the nation’s food supply.
