Events

Farm Labor: Demand, Supply, and Markets

Kalmanovitz Appellate Courtroom, UC Davis Law School
Friday, March 17, 2023

This conference examines immigration and farm labor issues in California and US agriculture. Labor-intensive fruit and vegetable crops are almost 85 percent of California’s crop sales, the H-2A guest worker program is expanding, and higher labor costs are spurring both labor-saving innovation and imports.

The first session explores prospects for immigration reform generally and in agriculture, the second deals with farm worker characteristics and the H-2A program, and the third deals with technology, trade, and other issues affecting farm workers and the farm labor market.

There is no charge to participate, but you must register here before Friday March 3, 2023

We are grateful for the support of the ARE and the Gifford Center, the ALRB, and the Giannini, Rosenberg, and Walmart Foundations.  For further information, contact Philip Martin.

View the full report of the conference here.

Agenda

8:15AM: Check-in and Breakfast

8:45AM: Welcome, Philip Martin, UC Davis ARE, Helen Dillard, CAES

9:00AM: Immigration and Agriculture (20 and 10 minutes)

• Chair: Philip Martin, UC Davis:
  • California Farm Employment and Farm Workers
  • California Farm Labor in the 2020s
  • H-2A: 372,000 Jobs Certified in FY22
• What’s next for immigration reform? Kevin Johnson, UC Davis
• Immigration policy and agriculture, Michael Marsh, NCAE
• Discussants: Sebastian Sanchez, EDD, Cynthia Rice, CLRA

10:15AM: Break

10:30AM: Farm Workers in the 2020s (20 and 10 minutes)

• Chair: Rachael Goodhue, UC Davis
• NAWS: 30 years of crop workers, Daniel Carroll, DOL (zoom) and Andrew Padovani, JBS
• Who uses H-2As? Skyler Simnitt, ERS
• Discussants: Francisco Macias, EDD, Ruben Lugo, DOL, Julia Montgomery, ALRB

11:45AM: Lunch

12:45PM: Christine Birdsong, CDFA

1:15PM: Futures: Machines, Migrants, and Imports (20 and 10 minutes)     

• Chair: Tim Beatty, UC Davis        
• Overview, Philip Martin, UC Davis:
  • ​California Farm Labor in the 2020s
  • California Farm Employment and Farm Workers
  • H-2A: 372,000 Jobs Certified in FY22
• Technology, Stavros Vougioukas, UC Davis
  • A strawberry harvest-aiding system with crop-transport collaborative robots: Design, development, and field evaluation
  • Alternatives to Hand Labor in Strawberries
• Trade, Steve Zahniser, USDA (zoom)
  • An Overview of U.S. Fresh Produce Trade
  • Farm Labor Markets in the United States and Mexico Pose Challenges for U.S. Agriculture
  • U.S.-Mexico Agricultural Trade in 2020
• Discussants: Kyle Cobb, Advanced Farm

3pm: Adjourn

Immigration and Farm Labor

Andrews Conference Room 2203 SSH
Thursday, March 16, 2023

This conference for 35-40 researchers, students, and data generators and users focuses on the three major components of the farm labor market: the demand for farm labor, the characteristics and earnings of farm workers, and the operation of the farm labor market, including health and safety issues and labor issues in cannabis.

We are grateful for the support of the ARE and the Gifford Center, the ALRB, and the Giannini, Rosenberg, and Walmart Foundations. For further information, contact Philip Martin.

View the full report of the conference here.

Agenda

8:15AM: Continental breakfast

8:45AM: Welcome, Philip Martin, UC Davis

9:00AM: Demand for Labor: Technology, Trade, and Labor (20 and 10 minutes)

• Chair: Tim Beatty, UC Davis
• Overview, Philip Martin, UC Davis:
  • California Farm Employment and Farm Workers
  • California Farm Labor in the 2020s
  • H-2A: 372,000 Jobs Certified in FY22
• Machines and aids, Stavros Vougioukas, UC Davis:
  • A strawberry harvest-aiding system with crop-transport collaborative robots: Design, development, and field evaluation
  • Alternatives to Hand Labor in Strawberries
• Fresh produce trade, Steven Zahniser, ERS:
  • An Overview of U.S. Fresh Produce Trade
  • Farm Labor Markets in the United States and Mexico Pose Challenges for U.S. Agriculture
  • U.S.-Mexico Agricultural Trade in 2020
• Responses: Kyle Cobb, Advanced Farm

10:30AM:Break

10:45AM: Supply of Labor: NAWS and H-2A (20 and 10 minutes)

• Chair: Rachael Goodhue, ARE
• 3 Decades of NAWS, Daniel Carroll, DOL (zoom), Andrew Padovani and Kimberly Prado, JBS
• H-2A: FLCs and Wages, Marcelo Castillo, ERS
• H-2A: AEWR issues, Zach Rutledge, MSU
• Immigration and FLCs, Diane Charlton, MSU
• Responses: Francisco Macias, EDD, Ruben Lugo, DOL

12:15PM:Spiro Stefanou, ERS

12:30PM: Lunch

1:15PM: Farm Labor Case Studies (20 and 10 minutes)

• Chair: Heather Riden, WCHS
• CA strawberries, Ali Hill, CO State and Tim Beatty, UC-Davis:
  • Effects of Overtime for California Agricultural Workers
  • Potential Impacts of Overtime Laws for U.S. Crop Workers
• WA tree fruit, Karina Gallardo, WSU
• NY fruits and vegetables, Mary Jo Dudley, Cornell (zoom)
• Responses: Michael Marsh, NCAE

2:45PM: Break

3:00PM: Cannabis: Labor Issues (20 and 10 minutes)        

• Chair: Victoria Hassid, ALRB
• Cannabis projections & realities, Robin Goldstein and Dan Sumner, UCD:
  • Can California Legal Weed Win? Economics of LIcensed Cannabis Sustainability
  • Cannabis in California
• Labor issues, Julia Montgomery and Eduardo Blanco, ALRB
• Responses: Christina Dempsey, CA Dept of Cannabis Control, Lindsay Robinson, CCIA, Pete Maturino and Kristin Heidelbach, UFCW, Matt Broad and Abe Gallegos, Teamsters

5:00PM: Reception with ARE Faculty and Students

Past Events