Gita Connolly is a law student at the University of Wisconsin Law School and a summer intern with the HLS Food Law & Policy Clinic. She is a guest contributor to this blog.
Farmworkers endure more than a garden variety of challenges and exploitative practices while on the job: wage theft, occupational hazards, inadequate housing, and labor violations, to name a few.
In an industry ripe for change, one farm model has been gaining traction that can prioritize farmworkers’ rights, stabilize the workforce, and put power back into the hands of employees: the farmworker cooperative.
Farmworker cooperatives are enterprises that are jointly-owned and democratically-controlled by farmworkers themselves, with surplus profits divided equitably among workers. In their typical form, farmworker cooperatives are owned and managed by their employees, where each farmworker has a vote in decision making processes and the power to steer the direction of the enterprise, or to elect a board of representatives. Farmworker cooperatives are distinct from agricultural cooperatives, which primarily focus on sharing resources or boosting individual producers’ sales through collective means. The farmworker cooperative model has a purpose beyond profit – to prioritize worker needs and advance the community’s shared social and cultural values.
Grow-Your-Own Business Model – Flexible Business Structures
One alluring aspect of worker cooperatives is their flexibility. There is no one-size-fits-all model for farm management, making the worker-owned cooperative structure beneficial since it allows farmworkers to decide on a unique business model that reflects their needs and progresses their mission. For some cooperatives, that model might include a tiered income system dependent on each worker’s contributions to the organization, while other models remove seniority on the farm and emphasize equal pay for all workers in alignment with organizational values.
For example, all farmworkers earn the same hourly wage regardless of their role at Diggers’ Mirth, a worker-owned farm* in Burlington, Vermont. Digger Hilary Martin has said that equal hourly wage is important to the collective since “we are all showing up with the same energy and commitment.” All the Diggers share equally in decision making and rotate jobs in roles such as weeding, tractor work, marketing, packing, and delivering. At the end of each season, the farm’s net profit is distributed amongst workers based on their proportional share of total hours worked.
Cultivating Grapes and a Culture of Respect – Worker Benefits
Ongoing farm labor shortages and low wages underscore the urgency to establish a farm ownership model that better meets worker needs and will attract more farmworkers. Despite the dire labor market, one business managed to recruit hundreds of farmworkers within its first four months in 2018 and now employs over 1200 workers. Its secret to success? It provides generous benefits to farmworkers and treats them with respect, creating a desirable workplace that is also profitable.
This business, California Harvesters, is technically a worker-owned labor trust, but it functions as a farmworker cooperative. Its business model is to replace farm labor contractors (FLCs) – the intermediaries that some farms use to recruit workers rather than hiring them directly. California Harvesters still charges growers, but instead of pocketing the 5-8% of labor profits as most FLCs would, they instead direct those funds into farmworker benefits. Workers can earn higher wages, access year-round work opportunities, workforce training, and a healthcare package including medical, dental, vision, and chiropractic care. After logging a set number of hours, farmworkers become members of the trust and will eventually vote for a board of representatives. Bosses are trained to communicate courteously, or as crew boss Javier Ramirez framed it, “It’s about treating people with dignity and respect.”
It may not be a revolutionary business concept that good working conditions and benefits will attract more workers, but these basic rights are hard to come by in the agricultural industry, especially for the 50% of farmworkers who are not work-authorized and the estimated 20% of workers employed through farm labor contractors. Workers hired through farm labor contractors are more likely to suffer wage and hour labor violations than workers directly hired by farms. The California Harvesters model stands out since it cuts out the middlemen and cultivates a culture of respect. California Harvesters’s CEO Jesse Gomez explained how the company’s financial success is intertwined with workers’ rights, saying “Economically, what really helps is having a consistent volume of people. And the only way to secure a consistent labor force is to treat them well.” The success of California Harvesters demonstrates that securing farmworkers’ rights is not a hindrance to, but actually help in ensuring, a stable and economically viable farm business.
Food for the Soul – Empowering Communities
Farmworker cooperatives are led by community members who often utilize their economic power to address local needs and promote cultural traditions. Riquezas del Campo, for example, is an immigrant-led farmworker cooperative* in Hatfield, Massachusetts, dedicated to making fresh, organically-grown produce accessible to all, especially low-income populations. Founding member Lorena Moreno has emphasized that the cooperative’s “main goal” is “to get our products to people who cannot afford to go to the organic store,” which is reflected in their work with SNAP and mutual aid funds. Many immigrants face barriers to accessing culturally-responsive foods, but the cooperative’s supply of fresh produce has helped “to preserve our cuisine from our places of origin,” Moreno explained, “and teach our children our heritage.” Farmworker cooperatives offer enormous promise as versatile businesses that can not only feed local populations but also anchor and empower minority communities.
*Note that although Diggers’ Mirth and Riquezas del Campo function as cooperatives, their worker-owners opted to file their respective businesses as LLCs.
Photo Credit: Lianne Milton/Panos for Oxfam America
The views and opinions expressed on the FBLE Blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FBLE. While we review posts for accuracy, we cannot guarantee the reliability and completeness of any legal analysis presented; posts on this Blog do not constitute legal advice. If you discover an error, please reach out to contact@farmbilllaw.org.
