Management of Horticultural Labor

Learning Objectives

Trace the changes in farm labor and wages for the past century to form an historical perspective of the horticultural labor market.
Examine the legal protections in place for agricultural labor and determine the impact that they have on horticultural production and landscape operations.
Consider the special problems caused by pesticide applications and the need for increased worker safety education.
Complete and submit Assignment #10.

Historical Perspective on Horticultural Labor
Most of the hand labor has been replaced in crop production by machines. In agronomic crop production, and in some horticultural crops (processing tomatoes for example), even harvesting has been automated. However, machines don't pick strawberries or peaches or grapefruit... nor do they trim and bag onions. Harvesting requires a seasonally available, large work force, willing to work long hours at backbreaking work for low wages.

Issues Related to Horticultural Labor
Labor for horticultural production operations is not needed continuously. This has led to the practice of workers "migrating" with the seasonal progression of harvesting from south to north as crops mature. The availability of such seasonal jobs (that pay well compared to jobs in Mexico) has attracted many Mexican citizens to the practice of migratory work.

Immigration and Labor Handbook
The purpose of this handbook is to provide employers with a summary of the many immigration and labor regulations and laws associated to agricultural labor. As you browse each section, you will find summaries for important laws related to agriculture with details on compliance, regulations, and the agencies responsible to administer the regulations. For more detailed information you can contact those agencies directly by obtaining their contact information and in most cases their internet addresses from each section of the handbook.

Worker Protection Standards
Employers have the responsiblity for maintaining a safe working environment for their employees. Furthermore, they are also responsible for educating their employees in the safe use of hazardous chemicals and maintaining ready access to toxicology information about the chemicals workers may be required to handle.

Aggie Horticulture | Texas A&M AgriLife | Texas A&M University | State of Texas