For over 100 years migrant farm labor has been an integral part of agriculture in Western Nebraska. As agricultural technology continues to change, the life of the migrant worker has been altered.

[alzke]

Quinceañera, 2014

[alzke]

Quinceañera 2014

[alexmatzke]

Alliance, NE 2014

[alexmatzke]

more Quinceañera photos: http://alzke.tumblr.com

[alzke]

Julissa waits to go to City Park where we'll make portraits. July 2014 

[alzke]

Waiting at the ethanol plant. May 23, 2011.

[alzke]

Carl Benzel shows the harvest of sugar beets with his 1928 International truck. As a crop, sugar beets were late comers to this area. Now considered a major crop, most are grown here and trucked to Scottsbluff to be processed into white and brown sugar. When Carl took his crop to town, he hauled 2 tons at 20 mils per hour. Now 18 wheelers haul 25-30 tons at the same speed as cars travel.

Undated photo from the Knight Museum, Alliance, Nebraska 2011

[alzke]

Cass struggles to service a semi truck before dark. (May 25, 2011)

[alexmatzke]

Alliance, Nebraska (March 16, 2013)

[alzke]

Julie and Santos at the old house. (May 25, 2011)

[willsteacy]

[alzke]

Trying to beat the rain and change an oil-filter before the work week, Santos said it felt strange to not be wearing his boots. (March 16, 2013)

[alzke]

Declined to have his face shown, but told me I could photograph the pup. Alliance, Nebraska. May 13, 2011. 

[aboriginalnewswire]

Last year’s drought took a big bite out of the two most prodigious US crops, corn and soy. But it apparently didn’t slow down the spread of weeds that have developed resistance to Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup (glyphosate), used on crops engineered by Monsanto to resist it. More than 70 percent of all the the corn, soy, and cotton grown in the US is now genetically modified to withstand glyphosate.

Nearly Half of All US Farms Now Have Superweeds | Mother Jones (via aboriginalpressnews)

[alzke]

Eddie walks to the office for paperwork after delivering grain to the co-op in Hemingford, Nebraska. May 24, 2011. 

[alzke]

Santos keeps watch while Eddie drives into Hemingford, NE. May 18, 2011. 

[alzke]

Santos works on his first truck one afternoon while Eddie runs grain in the new rig. Alliance, Nebraska. May 11, 2011. 

[alzke]

Alliance, Nebraska. 2011