The rise of organized labor in agriculture is epitomized by the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), the largest and oldest union of agricultural laborers in the nation, and its influence on environmental public policy, operations, and worker conditions. Many salient actors, events, and campaigns have contributed to this influence.

The National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), precursor to the UFW, was cofounded in 1962 by César E. Chávez and Dolores Huerta. Their lifelong commitments were to win recognition and respect, better wages, and safer working conditions for agricultural laborers in California and elsewhere. Earlier efforts to organize agricultural labor in the United States, such as the National Agricultural Workers Union, which Chávez joined in 1947, were not successful. Moreover, no labor union in the United States had ever expressed much concern about the effects of pesticides on farm workers and their families.

La huelga en...