America’s farmworkers are mostly invisible these days. The men, women, and children who pick our fruit and vegetables go largely ignored by the public and Congress, which has failed to update the Fair Labor Standards Act leaving farmworkers mostly unprotected from workplace abuses.  This September, however, two celebrities—Eva Longoria and Stephen Colbert—traveled to Capitol Hill in an effort to shine a much-needed spotlight on the plight of farmworkers.

Eva Longoria is producing "The Harvest." Rep. Lucille-Roybal Allard looks on. (Photo by Meriel Shire, AFOP)

On September 15, Longoria, a cast member from the television hit Desperate Housewives, appeared at an informal briefing in the Rayburn House Office Building to promote “The Harvest”,  a documentary she is producing about child labor in agriculture.  Longoria and filmmaker Robin Romano showed clips of child workers featured in the film, which will premier at the Sundance Film Festival. The Harvest follows kids as they migrate and perform back-breaking work that many adults will not do because it is too hard and the pay is too low.

Read more