“A 22-year-old came to Michigan to pick blueberries. Weeks later, he was dead”

…Researchers and advocates say it’s hard to know what pushed Mendez to drink so much. But, they say, farmworkers like him face a stew of precarious circumstances, from long working hours to social isolation and limited health care, all while playing a key role undergirding Michigan’s diverse agricultural economy…

Walker Farms, a Georgia-based blueberry outfit whose website references retail locations in Paw Paw, Michigan, is listed as the owner of the camp on state paperwork. It didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment…

Days after Mendez’s death, Michigan agricultural housing inspectors found the camp overcrowded and unsanitary…

Police later talked to his father on the phone from Guatemala…

Other workers at the Hotel California camp, a motel-like complex of two perpendicular, vinyl-sided apartments, gave somewhat muddled accounts of what happened…

More than a month after Mendez’s death and the state’s inspection, MDARD sent a “warning letter” to Walker Farms, requesting “management strategies to prevent future violations.” The state agency recommended weekly inspections by camp supervisors…