Milked: How an American Crisis Brought Together Midwestern Dairy Farmers and Mexican Workers

Ruth Conniff, former editor-in-chief of The Progressive, examines the lives of farming communities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border and the connections that have formed between them. Winner of the Studs and Ida Terkel Prize. In western Wisconsin's dairy farms, undocumented immigrants from Mexico comprise an estimated 80 percent of the workforce and have become critical to the survival of rural areas and small towns. Conniff introduces readers to migrant workers, their employers—including white voters who supported Donald Trump in 2016—and the friendships that have developed between these groups. These accounts explore how two crises are reshaping rural America: record-breaking farm bankruptcies in the Upper Midwest and contentious immigration politics. The book connects issues of labor, immigration, race, food, economics, and U.S.-Mexico relations, showing how these seemingly disparate groups have come to depend on each other, are affected by the same global economic forces, and have built bridges of understanding that point toward more constructive politics.