Agricultural Workforce Research Articles

Nontimber Forest Benefits and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract The HIV/AIDS epidemic is drastically reducing the agricultural workforce of sub-Saharan Africa, threatening household food security and the food supply throughout the region. Forests contribute to household nutrition and health and therefore should be considered in efforts to mitigate the socioeconomic impact of HIV/AIDS on rural agrarian households. Because little reference to forests and forest products exists in the literature concerned with the coping mechanisms of HIV/AIDS–affected households, we intend to draw attention to the importance of forest-based research in the context of these coping strategies.

Energy Analysis of Early, Mid and Late 20th Century Swedish Farming Systems: A Local Society Case Study

ABSTRACT Three farming systems, in the same area but at different times in the 20th century, were studied. Production and food consumption were aggregated with an energy index. From 1927 to 1981 total energy inputs to field work increased only slightly, energy in produce per unit of manpower increased seven-fold, work force in agriculture decreased to one-third, productivity of arable land doubled. Productivity of energy embodied in external inputs decreased by 85 per cent from 1927 to 1956; then increased slightly from 1956 to 1981. Questions about possible roles and designs of farming in energy-scarce futures are raised.

Pesticide use in developing countries

Chemical pesticides have been a boon to equatorial, developing nations in their efforts to eradicate insect-borne, endemic diseases, to produce adequate food and to protect forests, plantations and fibre (wood, cotton, clothing, etc.). Controversy exists over the global dependence on such agents, given their excessive use/misuse, their volatility, long-distance transport and eventual environmental contamination in colder climates. Many developing countries are in transitional phases with migration of the agricultural workforce to urban centres in search of better-paying jobs, leaving fewer people responsible for raising traditional foods for themselves and for the new, industrialized workforce. Capable of growing two or three crops per year, these same countries are becoming ‘breadbaskets’ for the world, exporting nontraditional agricultural produce to regions having colder climates and shorter growing seasons, thereby earning much needed international trade credits. To attain these goals, there has been increased reliance on chemical pesticides. Many older, nonpatented, more toxic, environmentally persistent and inexpensive chemicals are used extensively in developing nations, creating serious acute health problems and local and global environmental contamination. There is growing public concern in these countries that no one is aware of the extent of pesticide residue contamination on local, fresh produce purchased daily or of potential, long-term, adverse health effects on consumers. Few developing nations have a clearly expressed ‘philosophy’ concerning pesticides. There is a lack of rigorous legislation and regulations to control pesticides as well as training programs for personnel to inspect and monitor use and to initiate training programs for pesticide consumers.

The census and the servant: a reassessment of the decline and distribution of farm service in early nineteenth-century England

I n 1981 Ann Kussmaul published her book on farm servants in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England. This clearly demonstrated the early decline and extinction of farm service in the south and east and its survival for longer in the north and west of the country.2 Her argument remains the orthodox interpretation of the changing composition of the English agricultural workforce and the spatial distribution of the decline of farm service in the early nineteenth century. While a number of local studies have revised Kussmaul's figures or contended technical points, the main thrust of her argument and her methods have not been seriously challenged.3 This article offers some caveats to employing IKussmaul's methods. Both these and the 1831 data are shown to be flawed, a finding which has important implications for our understanding of the changing composition of the agricultural workforce and the decline of farm service. Conventional wisdom points to the persistence of farm service in the north of England until the mid-nineteenth century and beyond, and suggests that this was caused by the peculiar nature of the labour requirements in pastoral husbandry, often on the urban fringes, and the competition for labour from industry.4 Kussmaul calculated that by far the highest proportion of farm servants in 1831 were found in northern counties, reaching as high as 60 per cent of the adult male agricultural workforce in Lancashire and Westmorland, compared with the national average of 31 per cent.5 In 1851, the highest proportion of farm servants continued to be found in the northern and western counties despite an overall decline in their significance.6 These data have contributed to the

Spinal Cord Injury in the Australian Agricultural Work Force

While it has long been recognized that working in the agricultural industries isassociated with an exacerbated risk of injury, the extent of the additional risk is not wellunderstood. This current research investigated the incidence and prevalence of spinalcord injury (SCI) in a defined population and calculated the additional risk of sufferinga SCI associated with working in the agricultural industries as well as the additionalrisk associated with suffering a SCI that is work-related. Through the analysis of allnew traumatic spinal cord injuries between 1990 and 1996 in southeastern Australia, itwas found that those working in the agricultural industry were at more than six timesgreater risk of suffering a SCI than were the remainder of the population. Whenagricultural workers risk of SCI was compared with the risk of those employed in otherindustries, it was found that they were at approximately five times greater risk. Further,agricultural workers odds of suffering work-related SCI was more than twice that ofthose who worked in industries other than agriculture. Based on these findings it wasconcluded that those employed in the agricultural industries are not only a group inneed of primary intervention services, but they are also in need of secondary andtertiary interventions to allow them to return to a productive life following injury.

The revenge of the peasant? The collapse of large‐scale Russian agriculture and the role of the peasant ‘private plot’ in that collapse, 1991–97

This article re‐examines the old question of whether the agricultural workforce on the (former) state and collective farms of rural Russia are properly to be called ‘peasants’. It shows that the question itself involves an important degree of conceptual confusion. These people still, it is true, call themselves peasants, but this is an expression of their attitudes toward the state, not ‐ or not primarily ‐ a description of their economic or social role. The article then goes on to show, however, that the expansion of ‘private plot’ production in post‐Soviet Russia has been an important cause of the current crisis of large farm ('collective') production there. It ends by considering the question of how far this ‘triumph’ of private plot production over large‐scale production can be considered a ‘peasants’ revenge’ whether by the people themselves or by an ‘outside’ observer. It concludes that all possible answers to this latter question are gloomily ironic.

Trapped between State and Society: Women's Liberation and Islam in Soviet Uzbekistan, 1926-1941

The Soviet campaign for the liberation of women in Uzbekistan consisted of two major components. The first was freeing women from Muslim social and religious strictures. The second was moving large numbers of women into the new agricultural and industrial workforce. This article focuses on the method and results of the first component. The Communist Party attempted to destroy by administrative fiat arranged marriage, bride-price, the marriage of young girls to adult men, the seclusion of women from public life, polygyny, and other customs. While the Soviets made significant changes in women's status, particularly among the educated classes, in the end they failed to stamp out any of the traditional practices they had campaigned against. The liberation effort, while claiming to help Uzbek women, instead bound them in a terrible dilemma. Women found themselves caught between obeying the government, remaining loyal to their families, communities, and customs, and trying to realize their own desires in a bewildering sea of new opportunities. Ultimately, thousands of women became victims of the very forces claiming to help them.

Estimating the price elasticity of demand for family and hired farm labour in England and Wales

The agricultural workforce in the UK has been declining since the middle of the last century. However, the different types of agricultural labour have been variously affected, and hence the composition of the agricultural workforce has been undergoing continuous change. These changes in the structure of the agricultural workforce have serious implications not only for the policy makers but also for farm workers and farm businesses and those that service their needs. The study compares and explores the own price elasticity of demand for two groups of agricultural labour – that of family and hired – to enable the effects of agricultural policy on the structure of the agricultural workforce in both the short and long run to be estimated. This was done using two different methodologies – single equation and duality based system models. The similarities in the resulting elasticities give confidence in the estimates. These estimates can be used to help forecast the future structure of the agricultural workforce.

Education and Regional Economic Development in China: The Case of Shanghai

In thirty years, Shanghai's economy has shifted dramatically from agriculture to industry and, more recently, services. With less than 10 percent of the workforce in agriculture in 1990, a limit is rapidly approaching for a continuation to this historical pattern. Government policy has been supportive of rapid modernization and economic growth, but despite a high level of educational investment in the past, we find evidence of underinvestment at present. We show how underinvestment in education, the shift to a market economy, and the constraint of housing that is not yet privatized are strongly interrelated.

Eighteenth-Century Mexican Peonage and the Problem of Credits to Hacienda Labourers

The transition to modern, capitalist agriculture is usually marked by the replacement of traditional forms of farm service by a free labour market based on short-term contracts and cash payments. This process is often described in terms like ‘pauperisation’ and ‘proletarianisation’. But, of course, proletarianisation is not an inevitable consequence of the rise of day-labouring in capitalist agriculture; a point emphasized, for example, with particular reference to eighteenth-century Scotland by Alex Gibson and Alastair Orr. Contrary to much of southern England, where the forces of production developed rather fast, in Scotland traditional forms of farm service survived largely intact well into the nineteenth century despite the development of capitalist agriculture. As late as 1861 over 60 per cent of the total agricultural work-force in some Scottish regions were servants on long hires as opposed to day-labourers.

Life style or survival strategy

At the beginning of the 1990s, less than a half-percent of the Czech agricultural work force were private farmers having persisted through the period of forced collectivization. This tiny social group did not play an economically or socially significant role in Czech society. In the agricultural sector, privatization of the Czech economy after 1989 meant restitution of land to the original owners. State and co-operative farms were transformed either to joint enterprises, i.e. owner-run co-operatives, or to private farms. Initially, there was no great interest in private farming. However, employment opportunities in rural areas are limited. Today, private farmers comprise about 20% of the agricultural work force. Over half of them (54%) have less than one hectare arable land and private farming is not their main source of work income. The rest of the private farmers have different types of holdings ranging from 1 ha to well over 1000 ha. The average size of private holdings of this category is about 32 ha. Return to private farming means a large change of life style for both farmers and their families. Hard competition on the market is reflected in their attitudes and opinions. Of course, life cannot be reduced to solely the economic dimension. Freedom, personal independence, and decision-making responsibility appear as new major life values. Nevertheless, close interdependency of economic and social conditions is strongly felt. This contribution summarizes results of empirical research based on 385 Czech private farmers. Survey participants evaluated positive and negative effects of changes subsequent to 1989 on their economic and social life.

Frontière, immigration et relations internationales à la veille de la Seconde Guerre mondiale

Borders, immigration and international relations on the eve of the Second World War Claudine PIERRE Following a long period of occupation during the Great War, the Ardens resorted to a policy of mass immigration aiming at facing the needs imposed by the rebuilding and owing to the shortage of agricultural and industrial workforce. This border area can be used as the geographical frame for the study of the major international crises repercussions had on immigration between WWI and WWII. The economic crisis brought out new behavioral patterns. Although the number of foreign migrant workers was decreasing, there appeared xenophobic attitudes. Despite the pressure of public opinion, employers hindered any measure of regulation concerning the hiring of foreign labour. The resulting feeling of uncertainty acted as an incentive towards the integration of the foreigners. However the terrible events that led to the War questioned and upset the efforts towards stabilization made by most foreigners. They were soon considered as would-be enemies. The first ones were the Poles with the breaking out of the Munich crisis which made of them targets of a French people all the more worried and fearful they might be sacrified again since living in a border area. The Italians had become a threat ever since Mussolini's diplomatic reversal. What they did was to try to prove again and again their loyalty towards their host country. When the war broke out some Czechoslovakians were interned after various blunders for being « subject to the Reich ». These hard times further reinforced the precarious situation of foreigners living in border areas.

The increasing flexibility of the farm and horticultural workforce in England and Wales

This article highlights some important structural changes that have been taking place in the agricultural and horticultural workforce over recent years. While acknowledging the industry's distinctive need for flexibility in labour inputs, it is argued that these structural changes need to be seen in the context of wider trends in the economy as a whole. A review of the empirical evidence suggests that Atkinson's generalised model of the flexible firm provides a sound basis for understanding recent changes in the agricultural workforce. It is concluded that these changes have important implications for the Agricultural Wages Board as well as for organisations such as the National Farmers Union, Transport and General Workers Union, and Agricultural Colleges that service the needs of farm businesses and the farm workforce.

Dark Sweat, White Gold: California Farm Workers, Cotton, and the New Deal

In her incisive analysis of the shaping of California's agricultural work force, Devra Weber shows how the cultural background of Mexican and, later, Anglo-American workers, combined with the structure of capitalist cotton production and New Deal politics, forging a new form of labor relations. She pays particular attention to Mexican field workers and their organized struggles, including the famous strikes of 1933. Weber's perceptive examination of the relationships between economic structure, human agency, and the state, as well as her discussions of the crucial role of women in both Mexican and Anglo working-class life, make her book a valuable contribution to labor, agriculture, Chicano, Mexican, and California history.

Occupational censuses and the agricultural workforce in Victorian England and Wales

This article discusses the difficulties in using nineteenth-century census data relating to occupations for the analysis of sectoral labour inputs. The under-recording of seasonal and women's work in the census shifts in occupational classifications, and the systematic removal from the occupied population of women workers is revealed. Reworking of the census figures suggests the possible need to increase the size ofthe agricultural workforce by between 30 and 40 per cent in the mid-Victorian period. A programme of work is suggested to establish a standardized occupational classification system for census data and to estimate labour inputs from farms.

Occupational Censuses and the Agricultural Workforce in Victorian England and Wales

Occupational Censuses and the Agricultural Workforce in Victorian England and Wales

Agricultural work safety efforts by Wisconsin extension agricultural agents.

This study investigated the agricultural work-related safety and health programming of county-level cooperative extension agents who work through land grant universities to provide a range of educational programs to agricultural producers. A questionnaire was designed and administered to all 89 Wisconsin agriculture and agribusiness extension county faculty. The questionnaire obtained valid responses from 98.9 percent of the agents. Ninety percent of all agents conducted some occupational safety and health promotion programming in the last year. These activities occupied an average of 4.8 days per agent per year. Most of the reported activities were group programs for the agricultural labor force that involved other extension agents and included the use of videotapes. The greatest barrier to more programming was lack of time on the part of both the agricultural work force and the agents. Most extension agents placed greater emphasis on training in how to work safely around hazards than on how to recognize and permanently correct hazards. For future programs agents requested more short format materials to use in programming, such as fact sheets, videotapes, and farm hazard inspection checklists. Agents are important training delivery resources for controlling farm-related injury and disease. Agents could be more effective with more time, better materials, and with more emphasis on hazard correction in workplace safety programs.

Human resource development in the agriculture sector: three levels of need

This paper defines human resource development (HRD) as a functional process that involves learning interventions which are both determined by and have implications for public policy, public and private sector institutions, and the HRD specialists operating within the institutions that seek to implement these interventions. HRD is considered a force for optimizing human growth, organizational effectiveness, and national development through skills enhancement in the workforce. The agricultural workforce is broadly divided into four major segments, and these are related to three arenas of educational activity: in‐service training and development, non‐formal extension and extension‐type educational programmes, and school curricula. Following the definitions section, the paper takes up the question of basic needs of HRD in the agriculture sector (HRD/AG) at the policy, institutional and operational levels. Finally, there is a brief review of the global forces, both exogenous and endogenous, affecting HRD/AG. T...

Traumatic work related fatalities in commercial fishermen in Australia.

To describe the types and circumstances of traumatic work related fatalities in Australian commercial fishermen. Work related traumatic fishing fatalities were studied as part of a larger study of all work related traumatic fatalities in Australia from 1982 to 1984. Data on 47 cases were obtained from inspection of coroners' files. The incidence of fatality of 143/100,000 person-years was 18 times higher than the incidence of fatality for the entire workforce, and considerably higher than that of the mining and agricultural workforces. 68% of decedents drowned and 13% died from physical trauma. Rough weather, non-seaworthy vessels, inadequate use of personal flotation devices, and inexperience were associated with many of the fatal incidents. Improved vessel and equipment maintenance, better training of workers, greater use of personal flotation devices, and development of improved clothing and personal flotation devices are recommended.

Farm Servants' Accommodation on the Yorkshire Wolds

Abstract Introduction: From the seventeenth century or before until the early part of the twentieth century, ‘live-in’ farm servants formed the cornerstone of the agricultural workforce on the Yorkshire Wolds (Fig. i). They were usually young, unmarried, and hired and paid annually. During each year's employment they would be boarded at the farm on which they worked; normally within the farmhouse itself. The lifestyle and working conditions of these men have formed the basis of both recent academic study and the written memoirs of some of the last generation of Wold farm servants. However, with one exception, little specific attention has been paid to how and where the men were accommodated.