H2-A

This is from a series of portraits I’ve taken over the past few years in the apple orchards of Pennsylvania. These are seasonal fruit pickers from Mexico and South America here on H-2A visas, a way of life for both the workers and the American orchard owners which may now change. The workers are in the US on special H-2A visas which have strict requirements: only specific labor can be done and the jobs have to be offered to American citizens first. Once the job and season is finished the workers must return to their country. They are paid per pound and the pay is high if the picker can total over 10,000 pounds of apples per day. Many return to the farms each year during harvest season