Farmworker Housing

Farmworkers perform essential labor that ensures Americans have convenient and reliable access to fruits, vegetables and other products. But, for decades, they have endured substandard housing and working conditions.

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Employers banned from hiring H-2A workers can ‘reinvent’ themselves to hire again

H-2A farmworkers often complain of housing and employment abuses, and the federal government can temporarily ban employers from the visa labor program. But the bans are easy to evade, according to government reports, experts and Investigate Midwest’s data analysis.

Farms need to recruit US residents before hiring foreign farmworkers. Some skip that step, lawsuits allege.

Farms are allowed to hire foreign workers through the H-2A visa program to help fill labor gaps. But, as several recent lawsuits and federal investigations show, some farms favored H-2A farmworkers over U.S.-based farmworkers willing to do the job.

US labor department proposes changes to H-2A program aimed at improving worker protections

The new proposal would give temporary visa workers more access to unions and require employers to disclose their recruiters.

Government system for protecting farmworkers plagued by staff turnover and lack of outreach

Recognizing farmworkers endure unsafe housing and wage theft, the government created a program 50 years ago to address the inequities. Internal documents show a failing system.

In the Midwest, state oversight has forced some employers to provide better housing for migrant farmworkers. But regulations remain spotty.

While oversight of H2A farmworker housing is enforced by the federal government, migrant farmworker housing is state jurisdiction. Some Midwestern states inspect twice — others not at all.

Michigan dairy farm housing: ‘Invisible’ workers suffer, state looks other way

Housing for immigrant workers on dairy farms is often tucked away and largely exempt from inspections. Advocates say that can lead to poor conditions. ‘You have no one to protect you,’ one worker says.

A new network of attorneys fights the abuses of industrial agriculture. First up, Colorado.

FarmSTAND focuses resources on specific cases that can change precedent on agricultural issues in the courts, working in collaboration with grassroots organizations from local to national levels.

Las deficientes salvaguardias normativas dejan a los trabajadores agrícolas asfixiados ante el aumento de las olas de calor.

Una quinta parte de las muertes de trabajadores relacionadas con el calor registradas entre el 2017 y 2022 fueron de trabajadores agrícolas, según datos de la OSHA. Académicos, especialistas en salud ocupacional y grupos de defensa llaman la atención sobre el impacto poco reportado del cambio climático en este grupo debido a las olas de calor.

Poor regulatory safeguards leave farmworkers suffocating in the face of increasing heat waves

A fifth of reported heat-related deaths between 2017 and 2022 were agricultural workers, according to OSHA data. Academics, occupational health specialists and advocacy groups are calling attention to the under-reported impact of climate change on this group from heatwaves.

En el Medio Oeste, la supervisión estatal ha obligado a algunos empleadores a proporcionar mejores viviendas a los trabajadores agrícolas migrantes. Pero la regulación sigue teniendo lagunas.

Si bien el gobierno federal hace cumplir la supervisión de las viviendas para trabajadores agrícolas H-2A, la vivienda para trabajadores agrícolas migrantes es jurisdicción estatal. Algunos estados del Medio Oeste inspeccionan dos veces, otros no inspeccionan en absoluto.

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Still Harvesting Shame

An investigation by In These Times and The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting reveals how today’s migrant farmworkers are still living in deplorable housing reminiscent of “Harvest of Shame.”

September 22, 2016January 23, 2023

Blighted Housing: Inspections fail to stem poor conditions for migrant farmworkers

An ongoing investigation by The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting has found the oversight of migrant housing is a fractured and ineffective system despite decades of reforms.

April 13, 2016July 5, 2023

These farmworkers were forced to labor on empty stomachs

During an incident in Kennett, Missouri, in summer 2018, H-2A workers labored through high temperatures while denied breakfast and with little access to water. Their legal status was supposed to protect them.

August 21, 2019June 29, 2023

GRAPHIC: Back wages owed to H-2A workers have doubled in the last 15 years

Migrant farmworkers comprise a minority of America’s agricultural workforce but are owed nearly two-thirds of the industry’s back pay.

GRAPHIC: Just 3 states account for one-third of H-2A jobs, data shows

Florida, California and Georgia farmers bring in the most agricultural workers through the temporary visa program.

Human trafficking has long haunted agriculture. Experts fear it flourished during the pandemic.

At times, the H-2A visa program that brings non-citizen farmworkers to the U.S. has been used to facilitate human trafficking, experts and activisits said. But the number of people trafficked through the program appears to have increased.

GRAPHIC: Use of the H-2A program more than tripled in past decade

As labor pool shrinks, Illinois farmers turn to foreign workers

Farms across the Midwest are struggling to hire domestic employees. In Illinois, the number of foreign agricultural workers has increased more than 250% in the past five years.

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If you have information you think we should know, contact us with the form below, or contact the reporters on this project: Sky Chadde, Johnathan Hettinger and Mónica Cordero. Find out how to contact us securely here.