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Most of the world’s workers were employed in agriculture until the 20^th century, when economic development in industrial countries pushed and pulled farmers and farm workers into nonfarm jobs, where wages are higher and jobs offer benefits that range from health insurance to pensions. Today, agriculture employs a quarter of the world’s 3.3 billion workers, including over half of persons employed in many developing countries.

Protecting hired farm workers is difficult because workers with little education are scattered across many farms that are often exempt from some labor laws. The Prosperity Paradox argues that the fewer farm workers who are employed in rich country agricultural systems are more vulnerable because the gaps between farm and nonfarm workers have widened. Most farm workers are local workers unable to find nonfarm jobs and migrants from poorer countries.

This seminar will explain why farm labor problems do not disappear as the share of workers in agriculture shrinks and lays out policies and practices to improve protections for farm workers. The most promising path to improve farm worker protections involves adapting the continuous monitoring and measurement of food safety systems to ensure that farm workers are protected effectively.

We are grateful to the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the Walmart Foundation for their support of this project. 

For more information on the project, please visit the project on the following webpages: Wilson Center, Migration Dialogue, Jornaleros México

Agenda

Welcome

• Andrew Rudman, Director, Mexico Institute

Presentation: The Prosperity Paradox

• Philip Martin, Professor emeritus of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC-Davis

Stakeholder Reactions

• Daniel Costa, Director of Immigration Law and Policy Research, Economic Policy Institute
• Steven Greenhouse, Journalist; Former Labor Reporter, The New York Times
• Christiane Kuptsch, Senior Specialist in Migration Policy, International Labour Organization (ILO)
• Roberto Suro, Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California