A product chain I will examine the importation of tomatoes from Mexico and the social and economic impact it has on the indigenous populations involved in its production. I will also examine the logistics needed for it to reach American consumers and the everyday importance of this product in the daily lives of Americans. During a typical shopping trip to my local market, I routinely browse the produce section, admiring the abundance of mouth-watering fruit and vegetable products. All meticulously arranged in neat pyramids or stacked in perfect rows. Although many are labeled “foreign variety” and others are sold to certain ethnic immigrants, I never stopped to consider that fruits and vegetables commonly consumed on a daily basis might be produced overseas. The face of illegal immigration depicted by farm workers in the book “Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States” is what I now imagine is the source of my fruits and vegetables. Sinaloa, Mexico is known as the home of the largest and most powerful drug cartel in the world. Sinaloa is also the largest producer and exporter of tomatoes in the United States and Canada. “Half of all Mexican fruit and vegetable exports come from the state of Sinaloa, located in northwestern Mexico. Sinaloa exports mainly in the winter season, mainly vegetables, and fresh tomatoes are the number one export crop” (Cook). In 2012 , “Sinaloa exported 950,000 tons of vegetables, mostly tomatoes, mostly to California and other parts of the United States, worth nearly $1 billion. Half of the tomatoes consumed in the United States" during the winter months "come from Sinaloa" (Wilkinson). Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce of San Diego has been growing and supplying local fruits and vegetables... middle of paper... ...directly playing a part in the suffering of migrants simply by initiating demand for the product at minimal cost. Looking back at the role tomatoes play in our daily lives, we see that the financial survival of Mexico's indigenous migrants is tied to the vegetable crops of the United States and Mexico. Their lack of local employment leads to an endless cycle of poverty and pain for them and their children as migrant gatherers. As a manufacturer, packager and supplier, A&W provides field-to-market logistics for total responsibility for product quality and costs. We have seen that tomatoes represent not only an important cash commodity for farmers and retailers, but are also one of the most important staple foods in our daily meals. Mexico's tomato farms provide much-needed employment for migrant pickers, alongside health problems, low wages, discrimination and poverty.