Do Migrant Farmworkers Have a Place in Sustainable Agriculture?

Demographics There are an estimated 3 million migrant farmworkers in the United States. Nine out of ten migrant farmworkers are Latino. There are an estimated 897,849 children of migrant farmworkers identified in the United States (MEP/ ).

81% of all migrant farmworkers are foreign born, of these 95% were born in Mexico. Five out of six migrant farmworkers are native Spanish speakers. The average age of migrant farmworkers is 31 years old. 80% of migrant farmworkers are men.

Half of all migrant farmworkers earn less than $7,500 per year and half of all farmworker families earn less than $10,000 per year. There is only a 50.7% high school graduation rate among migrant teenagers. The average migrant farmworker has a life expectancy of 49 years.

Definitions A migrant farmworker is a seasonal farmworker who had to travel to do the farm work so that he/she was unable to return to his/her permanent residence within the same date (DOL). A migrant farmworker is someone who works primarily in agriculture or an agriculture-related industry, like food processing. Migrant farmworkers move from 'home base" communities in patterns known as "migrant streams“ (HUD).

A migrant agricultural worker is a person employed in agricultural work of a seasonal or other temporary nature who is required to be absent overnight from his or her permanent place of residence. Exceptions are immediate family members of an agricultural employer or a farm labor contractor, and temporary H-2A foreign workers (MSAWPA). A migratory agricultural worker is a person who, in the preceding 36 months, has moved from one school district to another in order to obtain temporary or seasonal employment in agricultural activities as a principal means of livelihood (MEP).

Sustainable Agriculture

An approach based on a systematic, holistic, and interconnected view of the farm and its links to the market and consumers (CFSSA).

3 Pillars of SA Environmental Health Economic Profitability Social and Economic Equity

Environmental Health

Pesticides Every year, one billion pounds of pesticides are applied to crops in the United States. Loophole in OSHA safeguards. EPA weakens protection standards. Copyright © 2003, The Palm Beach Post.

Economic Profitability

What a Typical Migrant Farmworker Makes… How is a migrant farmworker able to send $300 to $500 home to Mexico each month? His budget EARNS: About $760 a month, or $180 to $200 a week RENT: $100, an amount kept low because he shares a home with six other workers LAUNDRY: About $25 CALLING CARD: $30-$40 FOOD: About $300 Copyright © 2003, The Palm Beach Post.

What he ate in one day… FOR BREAKFAST: Spent about $2 for milk and snack from neighborhood store before ride to the fields. LUNCH: Purchased lunch for $4 from a neighbor -- rice with chicken in a large cup and a couple of tortillas wrapped in foil. Usually the women put the items in a large Ziplock and the men put the items in a plastic grocery bag. SNACK: $1 for soda from lunch truck in the field. DINNER: $4 purchased from the same neighbor. Soup, rice and beans and tortillas. They can eat the meals at the dinner table of the neighborhood cook. These mini-restaurants spring up everywhere, including a trailer park. Men wait outside the door and take turns eating inside. Some pay their food on a weekly basis. SNACK: About $2 to $3 for juice and snack in the evening. TOTAL COST: About $13 Copyright © 2003, The Palm Beach Post.

Social and Economic Equity

Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act (MSAWPA)

The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSAWPA) safeguards most migrant and seasonal agricultural workers in their interactions with farm labor contractors, agricultural employers, agricultural associations, and providers of migrant housing (DOL).

What the farmworker should know about the nature of the work… Where he/she will work How long he/she will work How much he/she will be making per hour or per piece What kinds of work he/she will be doing and on what crops How much money he/she has deducted from his/her pay What benefits, if any, he/she will receive

Do Migrant Farmworkers Have a Place in Sustainable Agriculture? Questions & Comments