Richards supported the efforts of farm workers to organize in the face of corporate agriculture’s domination of the factory fields of California rich agricultural lands.  He documented the organizing drives of the United Packing House Workers (Factory Farms), of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (The Harvesters, Uno Veintecinco)) and of the United Farm Workers (The Land Is Rich).  His films showed labor conditions in the fields and migrant camps, and provide rare glimpses of the “bracero” or “guest worker” program that imported Mexican nationals into California during the 1950’s and 60’s.

Factory Farms
1959, 37 minutes, color, 16 mm.

Factory Farms tells the unique story of California agriculture, a highly capitalized, sophisticated industry with substandard wage rates that keep its workers in dire poverty and destitution. The film documents 1959 labor conditions for farm workers and reviews the history of union organizing in California agriculture. The film was produced by the United Packinghouse Workers Union.

The Harvesters
1960, 18 min., black/white, 16 mm.

The Harvesters documents late 1950s farm labor conditions in California's fields when 14- to 16-hour days paid workers at eighty-five cents to a dollar per hour. The film photographs people working many different crops. It also exposes how the bracero program imported Mexican nationals to work at wages lower than the subminimum rates available to American workers. This film was used by the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) and the United Packinghouse Workers Union as an organizing film.

Uno Veintecinco
1962, 15 min., black/white, 16 mm.

Uno Veintecinco documents the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) strike to get lettuce pickers in California $1.25/hour. The film interviews organizers and workers and reviews the 20th century history of labor organizing in California's fields. It contains footage of farm workers leaving the fields to join the strikers.

The Land Is Rich
1966, 27 min., color, 16mm

The Land Is Rich documents the United Farm Workers struggle to organize California farm workers. It includes their march to Sacramento from Delano in the spring of 1966. The film contrasts the economic strength of California agribusiness with the migrant workers' poverty shown in bread lines, living conditions and the impact of extensive exposure to agricultural chemicals. This film was used by the United Farm Workers Union.

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