Farmworker
**Global Farmworkers:**
– Farmworkers are employed in agriculture worldwide.
– Agricultural work varies based on context, mechanization, and crop types.
– Temporary skilled labor is recruited for labor-intensive crops in countries like the United States.
– Farmworkers face health issues related to agriculture.
– Labor rights, economic justice, and environmental justice movements support farmworkers globally.
**United States Farmworkers:**
– Approximately 2,112,626 full-time workers were employed in production agriculture in the US in 2019.
– The average age of a farmworker is 33, with a median wage of $23,730 per year.
– Types of farmworkers include field crop workers, nursery workers, and supervisors.
– 63% of crop workers in the US were born in Mexico.
– Farmworkers in the US face health and safety issues like respiratory diseases and heat stress.
**Canada Farmworkers:**
– Canada had 297,683 agricultural employees in 2010.
– The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program brings about 25,000 foreign workers to Canada annually, mainly from Mexico and Caribbean countries.
– Issues faced by farmworkers in the US also apply in Canada.
– Health and compensation services are not always accessible to migrant farm workers in Canada.
**Mexico Farmworkers:**
– Mexico has an estimated 2.7 million agricultural workers, with about a million being migrants.
– Mexican farmworkers face issues like low pay, harsh working conditions, water quality, and pesticide exposure.
– Studies have shown health implications for Mexican farmworkers due to pesticide exposure and poor water quality.
**European Union Farmworkers:**
– In 2009, 77% of the agricultural labor force in the EU-27 states were family members.
– Hired labor accounted for over half of the total labor in the horticulture sector in the EU.
– The average wage of farm workers in the 27 states was €6.34.
– In 2010, there were approximately 25 million agricultural workers, including part-time workers, in the EU-27 states.
– Family members were not predominant in the agricultural labor force in some EU countries like Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Estonia.