Greenhouse Vocabulary Words

The Geneseo Migrant Center (GMC) reached out to farmworkers at many locations and different types of operations: potato harvesting, tomato picking, fruit orchards, dairies. A relatively new type of agricultural operation was year-round greenhouses. The large Intergrow greenhouse was constructed near Fillmore, NY to grow tomatoes year-round, and employed primarily Spanish-speaking migrant workers.

In response to this situation, the GMC created "flashcards" for staff members and artists interacting with the Intergrow workers. It was a matter of understanding the specifics of their unique work from a position of mutual respect. The process was described like this: "1. Make full list work words/phrases; 2. Sort and label work photos; 3. Type up & make flashcards from photos." It appears that Director Sylvia Kelly spoke with migrant workers; poet Janine Pommy Vega then translated names associated with their labor--terms like "pallet jacks" (gato de paleta) and "string line" (cuerda de linea).

The three-page pdf document here captures the process of identifying a working vocabulary; the OpenValley item here gathers photographs taken of those greenhouse terms. The greenhouse still is in operation, now called Sungrow.

Kelly, Sylvia

Vega, Janine Pommy

Three loose-leaf pages