Farmworker - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A farmworker is a person hired to work in the agricultural industry. This includes work on farms of all sizes, from small, family-run businesses to large industrial agriculture

Industrial agriculture

Industrial farming is a form of modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops. The methods of industrial agriculture are technoscientific, economic, and political...

operations. The farmworker may or may not be related to the individuals who own or run the farm, but his or her job entails a more formal relationship than a family member or neighbor who might do occasional chores on the farm. Depending on the location and type of farm, the work may be seasonal or permanent. Seasonal, or migrant worker

Migrant worker

The term migrant worker has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations' definition is broad, including any people working outside of their home country...

s, are often low-wage workers, who may or may not be working in their country of origin. Permanent workers may have a particular set of skills or educational background that allow them to earn higher wages, and are often found on farms where there is year-round production, such as on dairy or beef cattle farms. Farmworkers usually earn a wage, however, the work can be done on a volunteer basis or for educational reasons. Many programs exist, such as World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF

WWOOF

Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms , also known as "Willing Workers On Organic Farms", is a loose network of national organisations that facilitate placement of volunteers on organic farms. While there are WWOOF hosts in 99 countries around the world, no central list or organisation...

) that facilitates the placement of volunteer farmworkers on specific types of farms. Additionally, farms may offer apprenticeship or internship opportunities where labor is traded for the knowledge and experience gained from a particular type of production. Farm workers may be from the country where they are employed, or may be immigrants, as is often the case in the United States.

History

Farmwork has been around for thousands of years. In Medieval times, 90 percent of Europeans worked on the farms of wealthy knights or nobles. A form of farmwork is peasantry, a term usually used before the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

. Peasants were considered the lowest class of people and had few rights.

After the Industrial Revolution, many farm workers left the countryside to large cities to work in the factories. This meant farm labourers became more sought after, so the farmers and landowners offered better pay and conditions so their workers wouldn't find factory work more appealing. Some farmers employed one or two farmworkers, while Lords could employ thousands on their land.

Usually referred to as agricultural labourers (abbreviated to ag labs), they appeared often on census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

returns and documents from the 19th century. However, as more and more labourers moved to cities the term became less common by the early 20th century.

United States Farm Structure

The development of a particular kind of agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

is dependent on the characteristics of the farming region. The soil type, climate, slope, and distance to markets all help in shaping the type of agriculture that thrives in any particular region. For instance, the Midwestern United States

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

has rich, fertile soil, and so it produces corn, soybeans, cattle, hogs, and dairy products and has become known as the Corn Belt

Corn Belt

The Corn Belt is a region of the Midwestern United States where corn has, since the 1850s, been the predominant crop, replacing the native tall grasses. By 1950, 99% of the corn was grown from hybrids. Most corn is fed to livestock, especially hogs and poultry. In recent decades soybeans have...

of America. In contrast, agriculture in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

’s Mediterranean and moderate climate produces more than half of the nation’s fruits, vegetables, and nuts, which require hand-harvesting and a large labor force.

Over the last century the amount of farmland in production has remained relatively steady, but the number of operating farms has continually dropped, signifying a consolidation of farm enterprises. Around the 1930s hard economic times hit the country with the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

and the Dust Bowl

Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...

era, forcing some farmers off the land. From 1950 to 2001 the amount of U.S. farm land used for major commodity

Commodity

In economics, a commodity is the generic term for any marketable item produced to satisfy wants or needs. Economic commodities comprise goods and services....

crop production has remained about the same while over half of the farms are gone. As farm production has largely moved away from the family farms and towards an industrial agriculture

Industrial agriculture

model, there is an increased need for wage labor. A farm’s reliance on farmworkers greatly depends on the quantity and type of crop in production. Some crops require more labor than others, and in California many labor-intensive crops are produced such as dairy

Dairy

A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...

products, fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

s, tree nuts

Nut (fruit)

A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...

and vegetable

Vegetable

The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....

s. Although the domestic farm labor force has decreased in the last century, the proportion of hired workers has grown. Increased competition among agricultural producers and consolidation have created a need for a large, inexpensive, temporary workforce that increasingly comes from abroad.

Demographics of Farm Workers in the United States

The agricultural labor force is largely foreign-born Hispanic

Hispanic

Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

s of which 81% are foreign born, 77% are from Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, and it is estimated that 98% of all farm workers immigrated to the country illegally. They are usually young, married males. Every year many of these farmworkers leave their homes and families to cultivate, harvest, and package fruit, nut and vegetables in the U.S., while others work in the fishing, meat packing and dairy industries. In the past, the rise in immigration

Immigration

Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

to the U.S., usually of unauthorized workers, has increased the population of migrant farmworkers. However, in the 1990s, a new trend began with the development of more year-round production methods resulting in a larger population of settled farmworkers.

Issues Facing Farm workers

Farm workers face many challenges globally and in the United States, and are among the most marginalized labor group in the world. The increasing prevalence of multinational corporations and a consolidated agricultural supply chain puts downward pressure on producers and thus wages and working conditions for labor. The International Labor Organization argues that the large scale restructuring of agriculture contributes to violations of the four fundamental worker rights: the right to join unions and bargain collectively, the elimination of forced labor, the ending of child labor

Child labor

Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries...

, and the reduction of discriminatory hiring. Farm workers are more vulnerable to these abuses because of the precarious nature of their employment.

Not all farms and agricultural systems exhibit the following abuses and may respect the dignity of farm labor. The Swanton Berry farm for example "was the first strawberry farm in the United States to sign a contract with the United Farm Workers

United Farm Workers

The United Farm Workers of America is a labor union created from the merging of two groups, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee led by Filipino organizer Larry Itliong, and the National Farm Workers Association led by César Chávez...

of America/AFL-CIO

AFL-CIO

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...

. The farm workers' contract includes the highest pay scales in the industry, health care, vacation and holiday pay." Nonetheless, there are many prevalent abuses within the agricultural labor industry.

Agricultural manual labor is often seasonal employment, which increases job insecurity among farm workers and can inhibit them from effectively organizing for better working conditions. For some, pursuing farm labor as a migrant worker

Migrant worker

, or following the crops, is an attempt to secure more regular employment but this incurs traveling costs that may not be made up upon arriving at the destination. Dairy farms and other animal operations require year-round, daily and around-the-clock labor which farm workers may feel unable to challenge. Farm workers in any context are additionally vulnerable to abuse when they are undocumented immigrants and isolated physically, socially, or linguistically.

The many problems with farm working around the world compel immigration, both from rural to urban areas and internationally. Global trade and the depression of crop prices across the developing world contribute to agricultural workers seeking employment outside of their home country. Undocumented workers are subject to the worst abuses since they have no recourse and may be more dependent on their current employment. Workers documented under the H-2A Visa

H-2A Visa

An H-2A visa allows a foreign national entry into the U.S. for temporary or seasonal agricultural work. There are several requirements of the employer in regards to this visa. The H-2A temporary agricultural program establishes a means for agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of...

program may also be unwilling to make demands since producers are only required to pay for their return home if the worker completes the growing season.

There are many working conditions that can be of concern to farm workers and their advocates including adequate wages, housing, food, working conditions, access to health care, and the quality of life for their families. Farm wages fell by 10% between 1989 and 1998. Additionally, in the agricultural sector overtime

Overtime

Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:*by custom ,*by practices of a given trade or profession,*by legislation,...

pay and minimum wage

Minimum wage

A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...

, depending on the man-hours employed by the farm, is not required in the United States. Many farm workers live below the poverty line, making an average of $10,000 per year. Access to adequate food and housing compound the problem of low wages. Housing may be rented by the farmworker or provided for free; however, much of the housing provided is inadequate and overcrowded. Extremely low wages can prohibit farmworkers from buying enough food to feed their families.

Information about health hazards and access to health care

Health care

Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...

is extremely important and limited for farm workers. Agricultural workers perform a dangerous job- working with animals, pesticides, heavy machinery, and doing physically demanding tasks. Safety training is required in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

but is not always performed or may be inadequate due to the seasonal time frame and language barriers. Chronic back injuries, serious respiratory problems in Confined animal feeding operations, and pesticide

Pesticide

Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...

poisoning are common. The problem of pesticide exposure is increasingly recognized as one which occurs not only during the employees workday, but also due to pesticide drift which exposes workers, their families and whole neighborhoods when the wind carries pesticides into nearby communities. There have even been reports of farm workers drowning in manure lagoons. In instances where farm workers may be hurt on the job, they may not know their right to health care or they may be reluctant to report injuries for fear of losing their jobs. Meanwhile, in the United States, 95% of farm workers have no health insurance for non-farm related injuries which makes healthcare access for the family of farm workers and for illness very difficult to obtain.

While farm workers are mainly young men, the structure of farm work affects the entire family. When families do not travel together, parents, particularly fathers, are away from their children and families for long periods of time. On the farm site, many other issues confront women and children. Sexual harassment and abuse, inadequate educational opportunities, and the need for child labor for wages or for lack of childcare

Childcare

Child care means caring for and supervising child/children usually from 0–13 years of age. In the United States child care is increasingly referred to as early childhood education due to the understanding of the impact of early experiences of the developing child...

are serious concerns as well as exposure of pregnant women and children to many of the health hazards listed above. Women also face discriminatory hiring practices and often significantly lower wages, especially for piece-rate harvest work.

The following poem shows some of the difficulties faced by farmworkers:

Farm Worker Organizing in the United States

As compared to other workers, organization attempts on the behalf of farm-workers face a double challenge. First, labor laws that apply generally do not apply to agricultural workers. The National Labor Relations Act

National Labor Relations Act

The National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act , is a 1935 United States federal law that limits the means with which employers may react to workers in the private sector who create labor unions , engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in...

of 1935, for example, which protects most workers who organize and form trade unions from employer retaliation (e.g., the firing of workers for trying to join a union) and sets up a framework for unions and employers to negotiate in good faith, does not extend to farm workers. Similarly, the Fair Labor Standards Act

Fair Labor Standards Act

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is a federal statute of the United States. The FLSA established a national minimum wage, guaranteed 'time-and-a-half' for overtime in certain jobs, and prohibited most employment of minors in "oppressive child labor," a term that is defined in the statute...

of 1938, which sets minimum wage and overtime pay requirements does not apply to farm labor. In 1966, the minimum wage requirement, but not the overtime pay, was extended to apply to farm workers who worked on farms where there was over approximately 7 full-time employees in a quarter. Some states, such as California, have pass laws guaranteeing the right to organize

California Agricultural Labor Relations Act

The California Agricultural Labor Relations Act is a landmark statute enacted by the state of California which became law on June 5, 1975, and which establishes collective bargaining for farmworkers in that state....

, but these apply only to the state level. A second important challenge faced by farm worker organizers is the vulnerability of the workers due to their immigration status. The non-immigrant status of guest workers as well as the lack of documentation of many other workers places them in a politically weak position to address worker injustices. Despite these challenges, there has been an important history of farm worker organizing in the United-States, and farm labor organizing continues to this day both to ensure the enforcement of existing regulation and to create new regulations.

Some of the main organizations associated with the farm workers movement are the United Farm Workers

United Farm Workers

, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee

Farm Labor Organizing Committee

The Farm Labor Organizing Committee , AFL-CIO, is a labor union representing migrant farm workers in the Midwestern United States and North Carolina.-History:...

, and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers

Coalition of Immokalee Workers

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is a non-profit organization in Immokalee, Florida whose members are "largely Latino, Haitian, and Mayan Indian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout the state."Founded in 1993, the group has seen major success on several fronts...

. Many of the issues around which farm workers organize relating to occupational health and safety and labor rights are also socially important issues that affect society more broadly. These include issues such as immigration rights or pesticide use in American agriculture. These leads to collaborations between farm workers organizations and other groups. United Farm Workers, Pesticide Action Network, and Earthjustice

Earthjustice

Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm based in the United States that specializes in cases protecting natural resources, safeguarding public health, and promoting clean energy...

, for example, have worked together to present a petition

Petition

A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....

, supported by 24 organizations in total, to the US Environmental Protection Agency to push for a ban of the pesticide endosulfan

Endosulfan

Endosulfan is an off-patent organochlorine insecticide and acaricide that is being phased out globally. Endosulfan became a highly controversial agrichemical due to its acute toxicity, potential for bioaccumulation, and role as an endocrine disruptor...

.

Given the reduced right to organize and bargain as workers, two approaches are commonly used. The first is targeting regulation

Regulation

Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...

changes by pressuring the government. The UFW, for example, often run campaigns

Political campaign

A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendums are decided...

targeting policy by encouraging citizens to communicate with their government representatives on a variety of issues. As a recent example, on the heels of the death

Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....

of a young farm worker, the UFW has been encouraging supporters to contact California’s governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....

, to improve the enforcement of existing regulations regarding working in the heat. Despite having the strictest heat laws in the country, heat deaths continue to occur and are largely attributed to a lack of workplace inspectors which results in a low level of compliance. A second strategy involves targeting high profile businesses that are supplied through contractors and subcontractors hiring farm workers. Recently, the Coalition for Immokalee Workers, for example, has applied pressure to several companies through consumer boycotts, including McDonalds and Taco Bell

Taco Bell

Taco Bell is an American chain of fast-food restaurants based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., which serves American-adapted Mexican food. Taco Bell serves tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, other specialty items, and a variety of "Value Menu" items...

. The result of these campaigns were that these companies agreed to pay an extra penny per pound to the farmworkers who picked for them, regardless of the fact that they were employed through subcontractors.

External links

U.S. Department of Labor Employment & Training Administration: National Agricultural Workers Survey.
http://www.doleta.gov/agworker/naws.cfm
USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1063
Levine, Linda. 2006. The Effects on U.S. Farm Workers of an Agricultural Guest Worker Program. CRS Report for Congress. Updated March 9, 2006. http://leahy.senate.gov/issues/Immigration/GuestWorker.pdf
Farmworker Justice website
http://www.fwjustice.org/
Hundreds of millions of agricultural workers face poverty, hunger. UN report. 2005. UN News Centre. Oct. 6, 2005.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=16109&Cr=&Cr1
National Institute for Occupational safety and Health: Agriculture http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/agriculture/
Family Farm Defenders: Farm Workers Rights
http://www.familyfarmdefenders.org/pmwiki.php/FarmWorkersRights/FarmWorkersRights