Farm worker Facts. Geneseo Migrant Center.
www.migrant.net/pdf/farm worker fact. 2/05/2011

The theme of this fact sheet supplied by the Geneseo Migrant Center was to acknowledge the hard work, contributions made by, and humanity of migrant farm workers. They are often a population that is overlooked and taken for granted, if it were not for their willingness and hard work to harvest our crops, the food on our tables may not come so readily.
These are the facts I most want to share from the website.
-81% of all farm workers are foreign born.
-77% were born in Mexico.
-12% of all farm workers earn less than minimum wage.
-Half of all farm workers earn less than $7,500 per year and half of all farm worker families earn less than $11,000 per year, far below the 2002 U.S. poverty level of $18,100 for a family of four.
-There is only a 50.7% high school graduation rate among migrant teens.
-Migrant workers and their families have poorer physical health than the general population with elevated infant mortality rates and shorter life expectancy than the national average.
Although the following information refers to the migrant workers in New York State, I have found through my research that these facts seem to be widespread across the U.S..
-The # of farm workers in need of housing exceeds the # of units available in state approved migrant camps and many workers are left to their own devices to find housing. This fact is hard for me to accept, so many workers live well below the poverty level making meager wages and are still left to fend for themselves. I think it would be difficult to find decent housing without much money or the promise that you could stick around to fulfill a rental lease agreement.
Farm workers are excluded from New York State labor laws providing for:
-Disability insurance
-A day of rest
-Overtime pay
-Collective bargaining
There are many ways that migrant farm workers and their families contribute to our agricultural production, our communities, and tax funds. Farm workers pay more in taxes than they take out. They pay sales taxes, social security taxes, income taxes, but as non residents they are unable to reap any of the benefits. Migrant workers do a job most people living in any given area have no interest in doing. I will venture to guess it is because of the poor wages, sometimes awful living conditions, long hours 12-16 hours a day 7 days a week until the harvest is done, and the physically strenuous work with many hazards and health risks.
On a positive note however, they come from a culture that greatly values family connections. There is an opportunity for the communities that have migrant populations to gain more cultural awareness and accept diversity as something capable of expanding our knowledge of the world around us.