Use of a tractor without a driver saves money, but puts everyone in the field at risk. This is illegal, causes dozens of injuries and fatalities each year, yet remains common practice here in California's Central Valley, the richest agricultural region in the world.
Workers labor on, around, and sometimes in front of the advancing vehicle.
He escaped with an injured foot that has cost him months of work. Julian was fortunate. Government inspectors report workers have died from slipping under wheels, or being squeezed between tractor and trailer, when no one was at the controls. Farmworker advocates tell of family members calling out helplessly when loved ones were run over. Often victims are drivers themselves, told to jump on and off the tractor to perform additional tasks.