​Bitter Harvest is a photographic series by David Lurie that documents the conditions of fruit farm workers in South Africa's Western Cape during the final years of apartheid. Captured five years before the transition to majority rule, these images offer a stark portrayal of labour conditions on farms where low wages, poor housing, and exploitative practices were prevalent. Lurie's focus is on the workers rather than the produce, drawing attention to the human cost behind agricultural profit.

The series highlights the deeply unequal structures underpinning rural labour, echoing contemporary reports that noted, "The only limit on how low South African farm workers' wages can go is physical starvation." Bitter Harvest serves as both a historical record and a critique, using photography to expose the realities of life under apartheid.