THE EFFECT ON MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS OF CHANGES 

 IN THE MIGRANT LABOR SITUATION 



Earl I, Fuller and Lawrence D. Rhoades 

 Department of Agriculture and Food Economics 



Federal regulation now requires the payment of $1.30 an hour mini- 

 mum to all farm workers on Massachusetts fai-ms hiring foreign nationals. 

 British West Indians and Jamaicans as well as the Mexican Bracero are 

 foreign nationals. Puerto Ricans are not. The same wage rate will pre- 

 vail in New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. Connecti- 

 cut farmers must pay $1.4-0 per hour. 



These pay scales are only one indication of some nationwide trends: 



1. The Mexican Bracero workers are apparently going to be unavail- 

 able in competing vegetable and fruit areas. 



2. A national minimum wage law is likely within the next 5 years. 

 Many states already have them. 



3 . Labor unions are still active in attempting to organize farm 

 workers . 



These are factors that managers in the fruit and vegetable business 

 will have to consider in years ahead. 



SHORT RUN EFFECTS 



Several things are likely to happen in the immediate future: 



1. Reductions in crops such as celery, melons, and strawberries 

 are likely to occur on the West Coast or wherever these high- 

 er labor-requiring type crops are grown and where the producer 

 now relies heavily on foreign labor. 



2'- Producers in the same situation are likely to shift to low 



labor-requiring crops such as onions and potatoes. These are 

 crops that are now highly mechanized. 



3. The pressure to develop mechanical harvesting techniques will 

 increase. Remember that there is no crop that cannot be har- 

 vested mechanically if enough research and time is spent on 

 the problem. 



4. Mexico and Canada will continue to grow in vegetable and fruit 

 production. 



5. There should be higher prices for higher labor-requiring crops, 

 but lower prices for low labor-requiring crops. 



6. The small growers supplying most of their own labor from the 

 family could benefit in the short run. 



