Sharing word, sacrament and food justice with migrant workers
By Walter Lauf L
ike many traditional industries, dairy farming in Vermont hasn’t been immune to market swings and perpetual uncertainty. Franklin County, which abuts the Canadian border, has approximately 400 dairy farms, making it the largest dairy county in the state. “In their struggle to survive, these farmers simply
milk more cows (as many as a thousand), requiring a 24/7 operation and additional personnel,” said Kim Erno, an ELCA pastor and director of F.A.R.M. (Frank- lin Alliance for Rural Ministries). As a consequence, the farmers rely on a large number
of migrant workers. Mexicans with small farms can’t compete with the price of corn that is sold below their production costs by large foreign agribusinesses. So they migrate to feed their families. Their struggle to survive within a global economy has brought Vermont dairy farmers and Mexican corn farmers together. “Living in isolation and [with] language barriers cre-
ated a situation of vulnerability in which these migrant farmworkers had to depend on others,” Erno said. They need others to purchase groceries, send money home to their families, and transport them to and from doctor or dental appointments. They also lack social activities with fellow migrants, which is important for workers separated by distance from each other and from families back home.
As a result, much of Erno’s time is devoted to a “cir-
cuit rider” form of ministry, traveling from farm to farm as well as providing rides and translation for appoint-
30 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Lauf is a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Proctor, Vt., and former operator of a marketing communications agency.
In rural Vermont, Kim Erno, an ELCA pastor, ministers to migrant wor kers who are crucial to the area’s dairy farms. From left are Juan, Enrique, Erno and Tarcisio (last names withheld due to issues wi th documentation).
Mobile
ministry
ments. Fortunately he is a native of that portion of Vermont and, after years of serving in Latin America, is fluent in Spanish. The workers from Mexico and other Latin American coun- tries are largely invisible to the community. Some neighbors criticize their undocumented status, while others recognize their contributions to Vermont’s agricultural industries. F.A.R.M., an ecumenical
ministry, began in June 2012 with the mission to serve the rural community through word and sacrament with a focus on food justice, Erno said. “As a people of God, each time we gather at the Lord’s table to break bread and share a cup that is our Lord’s presence among us, we embody a world where all are fed,” he added. “One of
the primary driving forces for migration is hunger. We hope to form small faith communities among the migrant farmworker community to provide a safe space within the context of biblical reflections for expressing struggles, hopes and fears, as well as an empowerment to publicly advocate within the wider community for basic rights.”
One of those rights became law last summer when
Vermont’s governor signed a bill that grants all inhabi- tants of the state access to a driver’s license regardless of immigration status. Prior to enactment of the bill, Erno and workers he brought with him testified at hearings in support of the bill.
“Passage of the bill is one step in overcoming the iso- lation and enabling workers to become more self- sufficient and to socialize with each other,” Erno said.
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