stoop labor

Also found in: Idioms.

stoop′ la`bor

the physical labor associated with the cultivation or picking of crops in farm fields.

[1945–50]

References in periodicals archive ?

In the United States, for example, the US National Assessment of Adult Literacy found last year that fewer than 2 percent of American adults (15 and older) were illiterate, but an additional 12 percent were functionally illiterate and effectively pushed out of the work force for anything but stoop labor and ditch-digging jobs.

1/3 of Iranians are functionally illiterate

And also those whose stoop labor feeds us now with strawberries while our children are educated in privilege.

Letters

And, it takes two to tango (no pun intended), and the other partners are those who welcome laborers who in an earlier century were called "coolie labor." They welcome workers who have no choice but to do "stoop labor," picking grapes or strawberries, or other produce for a pittance under the cruelest of conditions.

Don't slam the lid on the melting pot

Some started with the obligatory "secure the borders" talk, but they quickly pointed out the need for workers who do the hard, seasonal and fairly low--paid stoop labor that migrant workers have long provided to American farms.

Lessons from the immigration debate

More stoop labor required to check your plants for signs of disease and insect feeding, and to drag the hoses around.

Raising frontier veggies: settlers in the Old West knew the advantages--and necessity--of growing their own food

From stoop labor in the fields, some of those migrants moved on to high-paying jobs in what was called the "frozen food capital of the world," slicing and dicing and packaging items like spinach, broccoli and cauliflower.