Think immigrants are taking our jobs? Try picking strawberries for a day

[Are_grits_groceries]

4. In the 60's and early '70s,

I worked for relatives in theirbright leaf tobacco crops.
We would work from can't see to can't see."
We got a 15minute break in the morning and an hour's lunch.

That is some of the nastiest and hardest work you can do. The tobacco oozes sap so you end up covered in black tar. Then sand will get mixed in. The plants contained nicotine and gawd knows what chemicals. I read that it was equivalent to smoking packs of cigarettes as far as nicotine was concerned.

It was HOT. I wore shorts, no shoes and a tshirt. Anything more and you might just pass out. There were a lot of times that certain things had to be done to the plants. They would flower on top, and we had to go down every row and break those flowers off.

A lot of the work has been mechanized. However, immigrants are now doing what we once did if it has to be done manually.