Philip Martin
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300139174
- eISBN:
- 9780300156003
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300139174.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
American agriculture employs some 2.5 million workers during a typical year, most for fewer than six months. Three fourths of these farm workers are immigrants, half are unauthorized, and most will ...
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American agriculture employs some 2.5 million workers during a typical year, most for fewer than six months. Three fourths of these farm workers are immigrants, half are unauthorized, and most will leave seasonal farm work within a decade. What do these statistics mean for farmers, for labourers, for rural America? This book addresses the question by reviewing what is happening on farms and in the towns and cities where immigrant farm workers settle with their families. The book finds that the business-labor model that has evolved in rural America is neither desirable nor sustainable. It proposes regularizing U.S. farm workers and rationalizing the farm labor market, an approach that will help American farmers stay globally competitive while also improving conditions for farm workers.Less
American agriculture employs some 2.5 million workers during a typical year, most for fewer than six months. Three fourths of these farm workers are immigrants, half are unauthorized, and most will leave seasonal farm work within a decade. What do these statistics mean for farmers, for labourers, for rural America? This book addresses the question by reviewing what is happening on farms and in the towns and cities where immigrant farm workers settle with their families. The book finds that the business-labor model that has evolved in rural America is neither desirable nor sustainable. It proposes regularizing U.S. farm workers and rationalizing the farm labor market, an approach that will help American farmers stay globally competitive while also improving conditions for farm workers.
Philip Martin
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300139174
- eISBN:
- 9780300156003
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300139174.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
The constant arrival of immigrants to fill jobs in U.S. farms resulted in a rural poverty developing in agricultural America. Several farmers demand that the government should enact rules that would ...
More
The constant arrival of immigrants to fill jobs in U.S. farms resulted in a rural poverty developing in agricultural America. Several farmers demand that the government should enact rules that would rotate seasonal farmworkers coming in and out of the country. This resulted in a series of agreements to recruit Mexican farmworkers to harvest crops. However, the arrival of new farmworkers caused the largest flow of unauthorized migrants between two countries in the world. This book outlines a “regularize and rationalize” strategy that can bring about fundamental changes in the farm labor market. This plan includes two key elements: the legalization of some unauthorized farmworkers and easy access to legal guest workers.Less
The constant arrival of immigrants to fill jobs in U.S. farms resulted in a rural poverty developing in agricultural America. Several farmers demand that the government should enact rules that would rotate seasonal farmworkers coming in and out of the country. This resulted in a series of agreements to recruit Mexican farmworkers to harvest crops. However, the arrival of new farmworkers caused the largest flow of unauthorized migrants between two countries in the world. This book outlines a “regularize and rationalize” strategy that can bring about fundamental changes in the farm labor market. This plan includes two key elements: the legalization of some unauthorized farmworkers and easy access to legal guest workers.
