Labor and Workers in the Food System

Current methods of production of crops, like corn and soybeans, rely heavily on machinery. Thousands of acres can be planted, sprayed and harvested by just a few people operating large equipment like tractors and combines; the latest versions of which have built-in GPS and computers to analyze the field.

But for raising and processing fruits, vegetables, meat and poultry, the agriculture industry still relies primarily on human labor. Farm and food workers are mainly an immigrant workforce, many of whom are undocumented. They are often poorly paid and work in harsh or dangerous conditions. This is just the latest chapter in a long history: the US was built on exploitative agricultural labor that dates back to slavery. Today, however, some of the most successful worker-organizing strategies are emerging from the fields, as farm and food workers fight for their rights and dignity.

A Brief History of US Farm and Food Labor

The struggles of today’s food and farmworkers are not new. The National Farm Worker Ministry spells out that since the earliest US history, agricultural workers have been a disenfranchised group, often brought against their will and denied the right to vote once in the US. A brief examination of a history of US farm labor shows that it is inseparable from a history of state-sponsored racism. ³

The 47 percent of farmworkers who are undocumented and not authorized to work — and the many similar workers in meatpacking plants and elsewhere across the food chain — face struggles. While most federal and state labor laws, including those regarding wages and safety training, protect all workers equally, regardless of immigration status, many undocumented workers either do not know these rights or are afraid to assert them. ⁸ As in decades and centuries past, the industries treat these workers as dispensable, knowing that if they speak up, get injured, deported or even killed, there will always be someone else to fill the job.

Still, in an environment of increasingly hardline immigration enforcement, the produce industry is worried about labor shortages — and so it is investing heavily in automation. ¹⁵¹⁶

One quarter of CAFO workers experience chronic bronchitis and nearly three quarters suffer from acute bronchitis during the year. ¹⁸ Regular inhalation of particulate matter such as dust can cause both respiratory and heart problems, while high levels of ammonia can cause asphyxiation. From 1992 to 1997, there were twelve documented cases of worker deaths in US manure lagoons. ²² Workers also wield sharp knives and work with fast-moving heavy machinery. A 2017 report by the National Employment Law Project found that an average of 27 poultry workers a day suffer work-related amputations or hospitalizations in the US, and in a survey of severe injuries reported at over 14,000 companies, two that process poultry and beef rank fourth and sixth. ²⁶ Those interested in sustainable food and agriculture must be as concerned about the people all along the food chain as we are about what goes into or onto the food.