The Forgotten Experiment: When American Teens Replaced Migrant Farmworkers

In 1965, facing a farm labor crisis after ending the bracero program, the U.S. Department of Labor created A-TEAM (Athletes in Temporary Employment as Agricultural Manpower). The initiative recruited high school athletes with ads featuring sports stars like Sandy Koufax, promising ’Farm Work Builds Men!’ Randy Carter and 18 classmates from San Diego spent six grueling weeks picking cantaloupes in Blythe, California, where scorching heat toasted their bologna sandwiches in the shade and melon spines shredded their gloves.

The program was a spectacular failure nationwide, with most teens quitting due to brutal conditions. Workers slept in dilapidated shacks, shared filthy showers, and earned just $1.40 per hour plus five cents per crate. Carter’s group became one of the few to complete their assignment, though their Mexican foreman likely resented them for taking jobs from his community. The experiment was abandoned after one summer, too embarrassing for history books.

Today, Carter’s story resurfaces whenever politicians suggest replacing immigrant farmworkers. Now 77, the Hollywood veteran reflects on how A-TEAM shaped him, recalling both the hardship and dark humor of privileged white teens learning hard labor. As some states consider loosening child labor laws, his experience serves as a cautionary tale about the realities of agricultural work.

farm laborimmigrationA-TEAM1960sagriculturelabor shortagehistoryCaliforniabracero programteenage workers