Seasonal Workers:   history

“In the 1940s is when we started getting migrant workers…”  – William J. in “Farm Labor” film.

“The use of hired laborers evolved as a common adjunct where family farms became less diversified, with the growing of crops for sale in urban markets as well as for use by the operator’s family…”

“Farm wage workers… were mainly sons of other farmers, and their social status differed little from that of unpaid family laborers and their employers. Employer-employee relationships were close, personal, and stable. Farmer and farm hand together performed similar jobs the year round…”

-        Labor Unionism in American Agriculture, by Stuart Jamieson in Monthly Labor Review, 1946.

According to the Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, family farms are a critical link in maintaining our food security and protecting the environment -- issues that assume even greater importance in the context of climate change.

"Many small farms and ranches produce significant amounts of produce and the number of smaller operations, particularly those in peri-urban areas that take advantage of local marketing opportunities..., has risen remarkably in the past few years. Also, small farms and ranches are responsible for the vast majority of the approximately 52 percent of total U.S. land that is used for agricultural purposes and, therefore, can play a major role in conservation and natural resource protection."
U.S. Department of Agriculture Family Farm Data, 2010.