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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contextualise historically transnational labour experiences within guest worker programs in Canada and to provide a conceptual foundation for analysing work, learning and living relations with special attention to agricultural workers. Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on a critical review of the literature as well as secondary analysis of existing research on agricultural guest workers in Ontario, Canada. Findings: The authors argue that the structural conditions for these particular forms of work, learning and living relations have a long historical trajectory that dates back in North America to the nineteenth century. They outline a long trajectory of convergence of American and Canadian policies in this regard. In terms of work, learning and living experiences we show how shaped by race, class and citizenship relations, as well as by the learning that infuses their reproduction, intensification and contestation. Originality/value: The article sheds light on a system of transnational labour that is emerging in a wide range of economies around the world, but which has not, to date, been widely analysed in work and learning literature. (Contains 11 notes.)

Comments on the health of migrant farmworkers in the U.S. and the Border Industrialization ("twin plants") Program with a brief description of the unique U.S.-Mexico border region, emphasizing the status of air pollution, housing, nutrition, and health care. Available from Southwest Economy & Society, Box 4482, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106 ($12). (SB)

This paper uses agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis to group 2778 farming-defined counties into six clusters, revealing farm patterns across the contiguous 48 states of the United States. To understand the differences in economic performance and improve farm households' well-being, economists have endeavored to identify patterns in US farming. The US is a leading global producer and exporter of many agricultural and food products. Our primary objective is to construct a policy-relevant farm clustering to characterize agricultural homogeneity in US farms' production potential. We identify six clusters that are relatively homogeneous in five dimensions: farm size, farm assets, farm labor, farm output, degree of mechanization, and government programs. Minimizing diversity within a cluster allows for analysis of public policy changes on specific clusters and comparison of differential effects of the change across clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To review and synthesise research related to the ageing farming workforce influence on the health and sustainability of agricultural communities. Design: Using the PRISMA framework as a guide, the CINHAL and Medline databases were searched. Search 1 used the key search terms of ageing OR aging, farm*, workforce. Search 2 used health, sustainability and 'agricultural OR farm communit*. Search 3 combined Searches 1 and 2. Search 4 followed journal citations to identify other relevant articles. A process of narrative synthesis was applied to the results through the prism of rural social capital that described the current state of knowledge and understanding under four themes. Result: Database searches and searching of citations identified 16 contemporary articles. Seven of the papers were from Australia, and the balance from five other high‐income countries. The four that themes emerged are: vulnerabilities of ageing farmers; economic and climatic drivers; social capital and sustainability; and integrative strategies, that might offer a way forward. Conclusion: Integrating these forces of nature, economics and sociology to address the ageing farming workforce and the associated health and sustainability of agricultural communities remains a major challenge for researchers, governments, the agricultural sector and rural communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farm labor in the U.S. is undergoing significant transitions. First, fewer farmworkers are migrating in the traditional sense, and more are settling in to rural American communities. Second, more women are working in agriculture--a process referred to as the feminization of agriculture. Third, there has been an increase in so-called "recreational" crops" like marijuana and hops grown for craft microbrew beers. This paper discusses these three transitions in Southwestern Idaho. These transitions were observed during pilot research conducted in Idaho during 2017-2018. We present this paper as a case study of current transitions in American agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence on the labor‐market effect of immigration focuses on permanent migrants, though a large share of international labor mobility is temporary and seasonal. This paper estimates the marginal native employment effect of policy restrictions on foreign seasonal farm workers in the United States. It exploits two natural experiments: a legal requirement to give hiring preference to natives, and an exogenous change in natives' next‐best employment options during the Great Recession of 2007–2008. The local elasticity of natives' occupational labor supply is 0.0015, implying a minimal marginal effect of seasonal work visa restrictions on native employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Eastern Snake Plain of Idaho, increasing rates of groundwater extraction for irrigation have corresponded with the adoption of more efficient irrigation technologies; higher use and lower incidental recharge have led to increasing groundwater scarcity. This paper assesses farmer vulnerability to a water resource policy that responds to that scarcity by reducing availability of groundwater for irrigation by 4–20%. Using results from a household survey of impacted farmers, we examine vulnerability in two stages, contributing to theorization of farmer vulnerability in a changing climate as well as producing important regional policy insights. The first stage, multimodel selection and inference, analyzes the primary predictors of two forms of vulnerability to groundwater scarcity among this population of farmers. The second stage, a segmentation analysis, highlights policy-relevant variation in adaptive capacity and in vulnerability predictors across the population. Individual-level results indicate that key indicators of vulnerability include several dimensions of adaptive capacity and sensitivity. At the population level, we find that reductions in sensitivity may play an important role in reducing farmer vulnerability. Accelerating global environmental change will require agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions to adapt to shifts in water availability. As water resources shift, institutional contexts and policy landscapes will shift in parallel, as seen with the reduction in groundwater availability in our case study. These institutional shifts may change the face of adaptation and farmer vulnerability in unexpected ways. Our results indicate that such institutional shifts could lean on efforts to enhance farmer adaptive capacity or reduce farmer sensitivity as mechanisms for reducing farmer vulnerability to adaptation policy changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As with many academic fields in the United States, white male faculty have historically been the norm in the agricultural and applied economics profession, but demographics in the field have started to shift over the past several decades. This paper presents descriptive evidence of the current and historical status of underrepresented and historically underserved groups in our profession, including white women and racial and ethnic minorities of all genders. It also provides a snapshot of perceptions of departmental climate, data on incidents of harassment and discrimination in our profession, motivations for switching academic institutions, and finally, data on strategies for retaining faculty from diverse groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tobacco use is associated with an annual global economic cost of two trillion dollars and mortality of half of its regular users. Tobacco leaf cultivation is the starting point of the tobacco cycle. Tobacco farming employs millions of small-scale tobacco farmers around the globe, most of whom are out growers who rely on the tobacco industry. This paper aims to map the regions of greatest tobacco production globally (i.e., the US, Brazil, China, Indonesia, India, and Zambia) and tobacco use rates in these locations. Smoking rates were higher in those areas, except for India, where important population subgroups reported an upward trend for tobacco smoking. In general, there was a relationship between tobacco farming and tobacco smoking. Tobacco farming may lead to a higher risk of tobacco use and lower adherence to tobacco control policies. Therefore, promoting viable alternative livelihoods for tobacco farmers must have dual benefits. Additionally, specific health prevention policies might be necessary for those populations reporting higher tobacco use and lower perception of tobacco-related health risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grounded in ecosocial theory, this paper discusses the mental health disparities of working-class Latinas from multiple perspectives. An overview of working-class Latinas' prevalent mental health disorders, barriers to care and suggestions for interventions and future studies are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the literature pertaining to occupational health disparities experienced by Latino immigrant workers in the USA and to advance a general framework based on systems science to inform epidemiological and intervention research. Design/methodology/approach – Using papers and other sources from 2000 to the present, the authors examined the employment conditions and health outcomes of Latino immigrant workers and critically analyzed the pervasive evidence of health disparities, including causal mechanisms and associated intervention programs. Findings – The occupations, including the work environment and resultant living conditions, frequently performed by Latino immigrants in the USA represent a distinct trigger of increased injury risk and poor health outcomes. Extant intervention programs have had modest results at best and are in need of more comprehensive approaches to address the complex nature of health disparities. Practical implications – An integrated, systems-based framework concerning occupational health disparities among Latino immigrant workers allows for a holistic approach encompassing innovative methods and can inform high-leverage interventions including public policy. Originality/value – Reductionist approaches to health disparities have had significant limitations and miss the complete picture of the many influences. The framework the authors have provided elucidates a valuable method for reducing occupational health disparities among Latino immigrant workers as well as other populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussions of farm labor emphasize that much hired labor is of a low opportunity cost, "salvage" nature and that technological advance is reducing the need for labor in agriculture. However, these ideas do not explain a trend for an increasing proportion of hired farm workers to be employed for a longer duration or for family labor to decline at a more rapid rate than hired labor. This paper proposes that these trends can be explained by the technical and commercial development, or rationalization, of United States agriculture in line with goals of organizing resources to create a profitable set of commodities with manageable risk. The analysis has several empirical implications that are borne out by national-level relationships of trends in numbers of hired and family farm workers with technical change, commercialization, and unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive narrative review of the literature on migrant farm worker child and adolescent health. It highlights current health issues and suggests methods to improve research and clinical practices with this underserved and vulnerable population. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology for this narrative review included a search of articles published between 2000 and 2012. From the primary search, 76 articles met the search criteria. A secondary search revealed three additional articles. Findings – The various methodologies used in the current literature have limited rigorous analysis of the health of pediatric migrant populations. The findings highlight the complex factors that influence migrant pediatric health. Despite the many challenges migrant farm worker children and their families face, they exhibit enormous resilience and strengths that may help counterbalance these challenges. Study categories that emerged from the analysis include health perspectives and behaviors, occupational health, access to care, utilization and satisfaction with health services, health outcomes and health disparities, and oral health. This review provides a strong foundation from which to work toward improving migrant pediatric health. Originality/value – This paper provides an original review of the unique health needs and the complex factors influencing the health of migrant farm worker children and adolescents. This will be of value to clinicians and researchers since migrant farm worker families are part of communities across the country. It offers public health professionals insight into services and programs that can improve the health and well-being of children, families, and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As White farmers in the United States retire en masse, the racial and ethnic demographics of US farming are shifting to now include a significant number of Latino farm owner-operators. Yet this population of new farmers, contributing specific technical expertise and knowledge, is not represented in current discussions concerning agrarian transitions. This paper draws on interview-based research conducted in the states of California, Maryland, New York, Minnesota and Washington, with first-generation Latino immigrant farmworkers who have transitioned to farm ownership. The majority are practicing small-scale and diverse crop production, with limited synthetic inputs and mostly family labor, as this form of farming allows them to reclaim control over their own labor and livelihoods, while also earning a cash income. The farmers included in this study, and their rationale for farming despite race- and citizenship-based challenges, cannot be understood simply through a lens of class transition. This contribution provides evidence that Latino immigrants' ascendancy to farm ownership is instead a result of their struggle to redefine their relationship to land and labor in a country where their race and citizenship status have relegated them to the working poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 1950s, California growers' associations were gravely concerned about their heavy reliance on Mexico for guestworkers, given the potential end of the program. In order to maintain a controlled labor pool, California growers introduced a new guestworker model that could possibly supplant the Bracero Program. They placed pressure on government officials to approve the Japanese Agricultural Workers' Program (JAWP). In an attempt to sanitize the program, growers' discourses around the JAWP intersected with emerging visions of "model minorities" creating a "model bracero," who was neither Mexican nor a traditional laborer in the eyes of growers. Additionally, growers often insisted these Japanese workers were "students" learning agricultural technology and U.S. democracy. In response to these varied diplomatic representations, activists, journalists, and communities sought to uncover what they saw as another form of racialized worker exploitation by calling attention to first-hand accounts of the Japanese guestworkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluate the performance of a widely used technique for imputing the legal immigration status of U.S. immigrants in survey data—the logical imputation method. We validate this technique by implementing it in a nationally representative survey of U.S. farmworkers that includes a well-regarded measure of legal status. When using this measure as a benchmark, the imputation algorithm correctly identifies the legal status of 78% of farmworkers. Of all the variables included in the algorithm, we find that Medicaid participation poses the greatest challenge for accuracy. Using the American Community Survey, we show that increased Medicaid enrollments stemming from the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014 led to sizable changes in the share of immigrants imputed as legal over time and across space. We explore the implications of these changes for two previous studies and conclude that including Medicaid criteria in the imputation algorithm can significantly impact research findings. We also provide tools to gauge the sensitivity of results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Farm labor contractors operate as intermediaries between farmworkers and agricultural employers by recruiting and supplying labor to US farms. In a political economy where there are employer sanctions for hiring workers without proper documentation, contractors share risk alongside final employers. Furthermore, contractors may facilitate quick employment matches during time sensitive agricultural tasks such as harvesting. For undocumented workers, using a contractor may decrease uncertainty associated with a foreign labor market and ease language barriers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current role of labor contractors in delivering immigrant agricultural workers, particularly undocumented workers, to farms. Design/methodology/approach – Determinants of labor contractor use and relationships to final worker outcomes are examined using econometric methods and a large nationally-representative worker survey that is distinctive in that it distinguishes legal status. Findings – Undocumented farmworkers are shown to be more likely to use contractors than are documented workers, though statistical significance is sensitive to the inclusion of crop and task indicators, and wages and fringe compensation to workers who use contractors are lower, even after controlling for legal status. Research limitations/implications – The paper contributes to limited recent academic work on the role of labor contractors in US agriculture. Future work may examine ongoing changes to this role in the context of mutable immigration policy and public opinion. Practical implications – It is argued that the decline in labor contracting increases the need for employer-level bilingual communication skills and compliance with labor regulations. Originality/value – Understanding current dynamics of the agricultural labor market should be of value to scholars of rural economies, farm owners and agricultural policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A problem that agriculture faces daily is injury to its workers. South Carolina is not exempt from this problem. This paper discusses South Carolina's agricultural injury records and injury surveillance needs. From 1996-1998 there was a total of 827 farm related injuries reported by South Carolina hospitals: 79% of the victims were males, 70% were whites and 42% occurred to adults ranging in age from 35-64. The most common injury was trauma to the lower limbs (34%). One critical data element necessary in safety programming is determining the cause of these injuries. Hospital data does not answer causal questions. However, these data do highlight questions that need to be addressed to provide the necessary information to both educate and increase awareness for the rural residents of South Carolina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper examines the relationship between obesity and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while accounting for the environmental impact of growth in transportation output and in crop and animal farming. Study Design: The study makes use of US state-level longitudinal data over the 1997--2011 period. Methods: Random effects and fixed effects estimators are employed within a multiple regression analysis framework. Results: After controlling for other sources of emissions, there is evidence that the effect of transportation output on CO2 emissions worsens at obesity rates exceeding 33.7% and the effect on N2O emissions worsens at obesity rates exceeding 22.5%. In addition, the impact of crop and animal farming on N2O emissions worsens at obesity rates exceeding 20.2%. Conclusion: This paper provides significant and new insight about the causal link between obesity and environmental emissions and highlights the importance of addressing the obesity epidemic on public health and environmental grounds. Thus, mitigating GHG emissions connected to obesity requires joint effort between policymakers, public health officials, and parties from concerned economic sectors in pursuing remedial actions to reverse the current obesity trend. Various policy measures are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmworkers in the United States occupy a range of housing, including both on- and off-farm family and communal dwellings. As the farmworker population is becoming more settled, housing needs are changing. Existing regulations designed originally for grower-supplied migrant housing may need to be expanded. Much of farmworker housing is in poor condition, and likely linked to negative mental and physical health outcomes of residents because of exposures to crowding; mold, mildew, and other allergens; pesticides; and structural deficiencies. The existing research literature, both on housing conditions and their associations with farmworker health, is sparse, and large areas of the country and significant domains of health are omitted. This paper reviews this literature and formulates research and policy recommendations for addressing these deficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the ways that farmworkers, many of whom come from a culture deeply rooted in food and agricultural practices, cope with food insecurity by utilizing their agricultural and nutritional knowledge. Food assistance providers in the USA often treat farmworkers' inability to afford healthy food as a lack of knowledge about healthy eating, reinforcing racialized assumptions that people of color don't know 'good' food. I argue that in contrast to food banks and low-income nutrition programs, home and community gardens provide spaces for retaining and highlighting agricultural, cultural, and dietary practices and knowledge. This paper investigates the linkages between workers' place in the food system as both producers and consumers, simultaneously exploited for their labor, and creating coping strategies utilizing agrarian and culinary knowledge. I argue that food security and healthy eating, rather than being a matter of consumers making healthy 'choices', is a matter of class-based and racial differences in the food system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited attention has been devoted to the cultural and practice competencies needed by occupational therapy and physical therapy professionals who provide services to farming families impacted by chronic health or disability issues. Agricultural occupational safety and health should represent a continuum of services responsive to individuals, families, and agricultural communities across a life span and range of health status changes. Physical rehabilitation professionals have a key role in impacting an agricultural producer’s sense of self-efficacy and capacities for returning to agricultural living and work. However, demonstration of competency is essential in providing person-centered rehabilitation services of assessment, evaluation, treatment planning, interventions, referrals, and discharge issues. The paper highlights methods utilized by a state AgrAbility program and a former National AgrAbility Project to develop a model of continuing education programming for occupational and physical therapists that evaluate and treat agricultural workers after acute injury or exacerbation of chronic health conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmworkers are often overlooked as producers and consumers of food; although farmworkers in California labour in some of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, they are largely food insecure. This paper investigates approaches to relieving farmworker food insecurity in one of the most productive agricultural regions in North America, California's Northern Central Coast. I explore the structural causes for farmworker food insecurity, looking at how farmworker food insecurity is linked to international trade and immigration policies, as well as the systematic exploitation of workers in California agriculture. Investigating the various ways that farmworkers cope with food insecurity, I compare two different approaches, food assistance programmes and farmworker gardens. I discuss the linkages between farmworkers' place in the food system as both producers and consumers, as they simultaneously are exploited for their labour and create their own coping mechanisms utilising their embodied agricultural knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a reply to comment made by sociologist Edward Walsh on a paper related to analysis of recent farm worker movements in the U.S. by the author and his colleague. Walsh charged that they adhered to a monocausal hypothesis of environmental determinism in explaining the outcome of movement challenges. This position in turn leads the author to commit a host of ignoring important internal differences between movements launched among farm workers; ignoring the independent role of the great man in history; and failing to survive and eventually prevail in a hostile political environment. Walsh's critique rests upon a number of interpretive errors, both in presenting argument and diagnosing the experience of farm worker challenges. The author tries to clarify the charge of environmental determinism. It is difficult to make sense out of an exploited, oppressed population like farm workers that remains acquiescent despite these enormous grievances and then suddenly mobilizes to challenge this state of affairs only when professional organizers, funded and encouraged by established liberal, religious and labor organizations, are thrust into the scene.

Scholars and practitioners from multiple perspectives, including developmental science, sociology, business, medicine, and public health, have considered the implications of employment for young people. We summarize a series of meetings designed to synthesize information from these perspectives and derive recommendations to guide research, practice, and policy with a focus on young worker safety and health. During the first three meetings, participants from the United States and Canada considered invited white papers addressing developmental issues, public health data and findings, as well as programmatic advances and evaluation needs. At the final meeting, the participants recommended both research and policy directions to advance understanding and improve young worker safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North American Guidelines for Children's Agricultural Tasks (NAGCAT) were developed to assist parents in assigning developmentally appropriate and safe farm work to their children aged 7–16 years. Since their release in 1999, a growing body of evidence has accumulated regarding the content and application of these guidelines to populations of working children on farms. The purpose of this paper is to review the scientific and programmatic evidence about the content, efficacy, application, and uptake of NAGCAT and propose key recommendations for the future. The methods for this review included a synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature and programmatic evidence gathered from safety professionals. From the review, it is clear that the NAGCAT tractor guidelines and the manual material handling guidelines need to be updated based upon the latest empirical evidence. While NAGCAT do have the potential to prevent serious injuries to working children in the correct age range (7–16 years), the highest incidence of farm related injuries and fatalities occur to children aged 1–6 years and NAGCAT are unlikely to have any direct effect on this leading injury problem. It is also clear that NAGCAT, as a voluntary educational strategy, is not sufficient by itself to protect children working on farms. Uptake of NAGCAT has been sporadic, despite being geographically widespread and has depended, almost solely, on a few interested and committed professionals. Key recommendations for the future are provided based upon this review. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this paper is to review the background of key legislative and regulatory milestones of the initial laws and federal child labor provisions limiting hazardous work by children in agriculture up to the more recent developments contributing to the proposed updates to the agricultural hazardous occupations orders. A summary of the key changes are described and the significant differences between agricultural and nonagricultural regulations are highlighted. Recommendations for future policy are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigrant and migrant youth who live and work in agricultural settings experience unique agricultural safety and health issues. Mobility, poverty, cultural differences, immigration status, language, education, housing, food security, regulatory standards and enforcement, and access to childcare and health care influence exposure risk and the well-being of this population. Approximately 10% of the migrant agricultural labor force is composed of unaccompanied minors, whose safety and health is further compounded by lack of social supports and additional stresses associated with economic independence. This paper examines the current demographic and health data, regulatory protections, and programs and practices addressing safety and health in this sector of youth in agriculture. Gaps in knowledge and practice are identified, with emphasis on data collection and regulatory limitations. Best practices in programs addressing the special needs of this population are highlighted. Recommendations identify seven priority areas for impact to promote transformative change in the agricultural health and safety concerns of unaccompanied minors and children of immigrant, migrant and seasonal farmworkers. This framework may be used to examine similar needs in other identified subpopulations of children as they merit attention, whether now or in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public health surveillance is fundamental to monitoring trends and for planning, implementation, and evaluation of health conditions in order to develop appropriate prevention and control programs. Farms and ranches are places where work and home life intersect in a unique way where risks are shared between work, home, and leisure. Public health surveillance systems have not been adapted to include agricultural youth as a subset at high risk of injuries and illnesses. Occupational health surveillance is used to monitor work-related illnesses and injuries but most have not allowed for continuous monitoring of agricultural-related illnesses, injuries, and disability. Limited evaluation of data sets available for surveillance or periodic reporting of disease, disability, medical care utilization, and risk factors relevant for youth living and working on farms and ranches other than traumatic injuries has been published. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the current most commonly used databases and their limitations, and to list potentially relevant databases and their limitations, as well as making recommendations to augment their usefulness in monitoring trends among youth living and working on farms and ranches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1987 the University of Iowa began training health care professionals to care for farmers' occupational health needs. The training enables health professionals from various disciplines to function in the anticipation, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of occupational illnesses and injuries in the farm community. A grant from National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) entitled 'Building Capacity for Health and Safety Professionals' allowed for the expansion of this training to other states. This paper describes the challenges, successes, and lessons learned from dissemination of Agricultural Medicine Core Course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latino/as1 constitute the largest ethno-racial minority group in the United States, and a significant and growing proportion of the US labour force. Nevertheless, they remain at the bottom of the US economy, concentrated and overrepresented in 'bad jobs'. Using a case study from agricultural work, this paper examines how racialization is implicated in such positioning of Latino/as within the labour market. Based on data from in-depth interviews, I explore how agricultural employers articulate racial meanings about and in relation to Latino/a workers. While employers espouse colour-blindness, they routinely invoke racial meanings in their assessment of workers and everyday practices. They use race as proxy for worker quality, making racialized distinctions between recent immigrants and second + -generation Latino/as. A dual frame of reference serves as an ideological tool to de-problematize exploitative work conditions in the United States. I explore the theoretical and political implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using 3,130 U.S. counties or county equivalents, this paper provides a test of the impact of rural population on the violent crime of homicide, while controlling for the effects of other correlates. The results indicate that the traditional bond of group cohesion assumed to be associated with the rural environment and its residents continues to have an inhibiting effect on homicide for counties in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the effects of increased participation in federal farm programs on farm structure in two socioeconomically distinct regions. We examine (1) how farmers use the programs in conjunction with other inputs as a survival strategy and (2) specific outcomes associated with increased program participation. Our analysis is based on surveys of two farming-dependent counties typical of the Cornbelt and the Mississippi Delta. Farmers in both regions used farm programs to expand farm operations. However, there were important regional differences associated with the implementation of this strategy. These regional divergences can be attributed to differences in both past levels of enrollment in farm programs and variations in farm organization, particularly whether the farm relies primarily on household or hired labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies of the social implications of agricultural organization have been cross-sectional and confined to a single region. This paper examines the relationship between the socioeconomic well-being of agricultural counties in 1970 and changes in the size and organization of agricultural production from 1949 to 1969. Two regions, the Corn Belt and the central Great Plains, are studied. Results indicate that the relationship between variables depends upon the region studied and that increases in numbers of hired farm laborers are more likely to have negative consequences for agricultural communities than are increases in the scale of production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we empirically test hypotheses derived from the "convergence-divergence" theory of occupational attainment. The occupational structure of 1962 samples from rural India and rural United States have become quite divergent. The hypotheses are tested by comparing the permeability of the occupational structure of the two samples, the occupational attainment of rural males, and the occupational attainment for those who are in agricultural and non-agricultural pursuits. The data fail to support the hypothesis that the greater a society's industrialization, the weaker the influence of father's occupational status on son's education achievement. On the whole, our findings lend limited support to the convergence hypotheses and suggest a more parsimonious explanation, such as the proportion of the labor force engaged in agriculture, rather than industrialization, as a cause for such a convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents abstracts of research papers on population, welfare programs and consumer economics which were published as of June 1967. Survey of Interpretations of Consumer Behavior by Social Scientists in the Postwar Period attempts to integrate major theoretical and empirical developments in the social science disciplines pertinent to analysis of consumer behavior at both the micro and macro levels. The Demand for Higher Education in the United States, 1919-1964 is a study of the demand for higher education in the U.S. for the period since World War I. The study is based upon aggregate enrollment data and it uses the rather common economic variables of income and price to explain the movements of demand during the period. In the paper Mobility of Hired Agricultural Labor: 1957-1960, patterns of interindustry flows of hired agricultural labor in the period 1957-1960 are analyzed through the use of longitudinal data developed from Social Security records. In the paper A Comparison of Consumer Expenditures in Quebec and Ontario, 1959 government urban household budget survey data from Quebec and Ontario were analyzed to determine whether there are important differences in consumer expenditures on major classes of goods and services between the two provinces.

Men and women living in rural communities of the United States (US) are less likely than those in urban or suburban communities to be up to date with cancer screenings. Delayed screening contributes to later stage at diagnosis and higher cancer mortality for individuals living in rural areas. These effects may be compounded in some rural subpopulations (e.g. migrant and seasonal farmworkers). This systematic review examines educational interventions aimed at increasing colorectal, breast, prostate, oral, and/or cervical cancer screening in the rural US, with special consideration for the farmworker subpopulation. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, our systematic literature review employed the following databases: Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL Complete, Embase, and Web of Science. Search terms included, but were not limited to 'rural,' 'cancer screening,' 'farmworker,' and 'cancer prevention.' Eligible studies featured an educational intervention implemented in agricultural or rural US settings with a cancer screening behavioral outcome, male and/or female participants, and were published in English between 2002 and 2020. Article screening and data extraction were conducted by two independent reviewers. Twenty-six articles were eligible. Of the six studies focused on the farmworker population (n=2,732), 61.75% of participants reported Hispanic ethnicity. Of the sixteen studies on unspecified rural communities reporting participant race/ethnicity (n=10,442), 39.29% reported Black/African American race. Efficacious interventions included culturally-targeted educational materials, lay health advisors (LHAs), and components that addressed practical barriers (e.g. financial or logistical). Results demonstrate the value of LHAs and targeted education to increase screening for multiple cancer types in rural communities. Prospective research should incorporate and facilitate access to screening and provider-level and/or organizational-level interventions to increase overall impact. HPV: human papillomavirus; LHA: lay health advisors; MeSH: Medical Subject Headings; PRISMA: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses; RCT: randomized controlled trial; US: United States [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Agriculture is one of the most hazardous occupations in the USA. Especially, tractor rollover incidents are the leading cause of farming-related injuries or deaths. This study examines the effect of a VR intervention (Virtual Reality Intervention for Safety Education; VRISE) on behavioral intentions for occupational safety and identifies a psychological mechanism that shows how the immersive technology works. Methods VRISE was developed by a multidisciplinary team of agricultural educators, computer scientists and communication specialists. It was designed to provide a virtual environment where users practice tractor operation and try to avoid several rollover hazards. The participants (291 high school students) were recruited at the 2019 National Future Farmers Association Convention & Expo and randomly assigned to one of three conditions: two different types of control groups (Control1: No treatment group and Control2: 2D Screen group) and the treatment group. Results Findings show that, through the immersive VR experience, the VR intervention enhanced perceived threat of tractor-related accidents which in turn, led to improved behavioral intentions for tractor safety. Conclusions Findings shed light on the effectiveness of a VR intervention to improve public health outcomes, especially in occupational safety education, where unsafe practices often result in injury and fatality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how colonialism and immigration policies define the citizenship of Puerto Rican farmworkers in relation to guestworker programs. The Jones Act created in practice an ambiguous status for Puerto Rican migrants by granting U.S. citizenship to colonial subjects in a time when citizenship still meant being White and Anglophone. In addition, the importation of Mexican braceros tended to shape people's perceptions of farmworkers as "foreign." Puerto Ricans were and are constantly asked, challenged, and suspected by mainstream society of being "illegal aliens." These perceptions had a lasting effect through World War II, the H-2 Program, and apple growers' resistance to the use of Puerto Rican workers during the 1970s. The study of the formation of the Puerto Rican farm labor force offers a unique opportunity to explore how U.S. colonialism, the political economy of agriculture, and low-wage labor are related to projects of citizenship and immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of employer-provided health benefits (EPHBs) on labor supply decisions of documented and undocumented farm workers. By establishing a significant linkage between EPHB and farm work decisions, this study provides important implications for farm employment retention and the financial sustainability of farm businesses.Design/methodology/approach Using data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey, objective (actual) and subjective (expected) employment data are used as outcome variables analyzed under an ordered probit model, with the data pre-processed using the coarsened exact matching method to reduce endogeneity issues within the estimation.Findings Results confirm the influence of EPHB on farm workers’ decisions to remain employed on the farm as well as on the duration of their farm employment. Comparatively, EPHB significantly influences undocumented farm workers’ decisions on actual employment duration and subjective working expectations while documented workers seem to ascribe less importance to EPHB in their farm employment decisions.Practical implications This study provides important financial and business viability implications as the value of farm labor services retained through EPHB can translate to high opportunity losses, if ineffective. Alternative labor-saving strategies, such as mechanization, can only potentially lead to serious financial challenges for agribusiness firms, especially small-scale farm operations. This study emphasizes the need for more effective employment retention incentives for the sake of sustaining farm business viability.Originality/value This study presents empirical evidence on the important influence of EPHB on farm employment decisions, especially those made by undocumented farm workers, that have not been extensively explored in literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural employers have faced extreme challenges in recruiting and retaining an adequate workforce. Various societal changes have made hiring local workers into agricultural jobs difficult. Therefore, there is a growing reliance on foreign workers and visa programs to meet labor demands. One such program, the TN visa, can be an effective and useful tool for recruiting professional labor for livestock operations, and many agricultural employers have already seen its value. It is likely that the use of the TN program will continue to grow in the future. However, there is opportunity for misuse and abuse of the TN program because there are few administrative rules and limited oversight. We offer recommendations to improve the TN program and the well-being of TN professionals including additional oversight of the program, transparency in recruiting and contracting workers, educating TN workers about U.S. labor rights, ensuring fair pay, and allowing a path to work authorization for TN workers' spouses and children who accompany them in the U.S. Clearly, sustainable solutions to the farm labor shortage are needed. As a field, we need to better understand workforce recruitment and retention concerns as well as mechanisms being used to address such concerns and their impact on workers' health, safety, and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]