August 5th 1982, farmworker Sacharias Ruiz awoke at dawn in Bryan, Texas. He would not live to see the sun set. Mr. Ruiz’s job that day was to spray Dinitro-3, a highly toxic pesticide, on cotton plants in Bryan, Texas. The pesticide canister had a leak, just a small leak, but, nonetheless, a fatal leak. Soon, Mr. Ruiz was too […]
Pesticides are Hell on Bugs and Not Much Better on People
People’s History in Texas is in the middle of a in-depth project collecting oral history and archives on the Jim Hightower tenure as Commissioner of Texas Department of Agriculture from 1983-1991. In those eight years, an amazing legacy of support for family farmers and sustainable rural agriculture was implemented. That legacy of positive programs is still making its impact on […]