IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i3p1062-d483927.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the Social Sustainability of Industrial Agriculture Dependent on Migrant Workers. Romanian Workers in Spain’s Seasonal Agriculture

Author

Listed:
  • Yoan Molinero-Gerbeau

    (Institute of Economy, Geography and Demography (IEGD) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), 28037 Madrid, Spain)

  • Ana López-Sala

    (Institute of Economy, Geography and Demography (IEGD) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), 28037 Madrid, Spain)

  • Monica Șerban

    (Research Institute for Quality of Life (ICCV), Romanian Academy, 050711 Bucharest, Romania)

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Romanian migrants have become one of the most significant national groups doing agricultural work in Spain, initially coming via a temporary migration program and later under several different modalities. However, despite their critical importance for the functioning of Europe’s largest agro-industry, the study of this long-term circular mobility is still underdeveloped in migration and agriculture literature. Thanks to extensive fieldwork carried out in the provinces of Huelva and Lleida in Spain and in the counties of Teleorman and Buzău in Romania, this paper has two main objectives: first, to identify some of the most common forms of mobility of these migrants; and second, to discuss whether this industrial agriculture, hugely dependent on migrant work, is socially sustainable. The case of Romanian migrants in Spanish agriculture will serve to show how a critical sector for the EU and for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations, operates on an unsustainable model based on precariousness and exploitation.

Suggested Citation

  • Yoan Molinero-Gerbeau & Ana López-Sala & Monica Șerban, 2021. "On the Social Sustainability of Industrial Agriculture Dependent on Migrant Workers. Romanian Workers in Spain’s Seasonal Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-17, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1062-:d:483927
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1062/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1062/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira, 2016. "Reflecting on new developmentalism and classical developmentalism," Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Center of Political Economy, vol. 36(2), pages 237-265.
    2. Efrat Eizenberg & Yosef Jabareen, 2017. "Social Sustainability: A New Conceptual Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Beate Littig & Erich Griessler, 2005. "Social sustainability: a catchword between political pragmatism and social theory," International Journal of Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(1/2), pages 65-79.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Florian Ahlmeyer & Kati Volgmann, 2023. "What Can We Expect for the Development of Rural Areas in Europe?—Trends of the Last Decade and Their Opportunities for Rural Regeneration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Miriam Martín-Moreno & Katia Hueso-Kortekaas & Jose C. Romero, 2023. "Social Life Cycle Analysis of Intensive Greenhouse Farming: A Qualitative View of Tomato Production in Almeria (Spain)," World, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Marcos Lacasa Cazcarra, 2024. "Machine Learning Analysis of the Impact of Increasing the Minimum Wage on Income Inequality in Spain from 2001 to 2021," Papers 2402.02402, arXiv.org.
    4. Silvia Marcu, 2021. "Towards Sustainable Mobility? The Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Romanian Mobile Citizens in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-18, April.
    5. Valentina Constanta Tudor & Toma Adrian Dinu & Marius Vladu & Dragoș Smedescu & Ionela Mituko Vlad & Eduard Alexandru Dumitru & Cristina Maria Sterie & Carmen Luiza Costuleanu, 2022. "Labour Implications on Agricultural Production in Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-22, July.
    6. Hannah Gosnell & Kelsey Emard & Elizabeth Hyde, 2021. "Taking Stock of Social Sustainability and the U.S. Beef Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-23, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jubril Olakitan Atanda & Ayşe Öztürk, 2020. "Social criteria of sustainable development in relation to green building assessment tools," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 61-87, January.
    2. Robin Hogrefe & Sabine Bohnet-Joschko, 2023. "The Social Dimension of Corporate Sustainability: Review of an Evolving Research Field," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-22, February.
    3. Zia Ullah & Mohammed Ali Bait Ali Sulaiman & Syed Babar Ali & Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz & Heesup Han, 2021. "The Effect of Work Safety on Organizational Social Sustainability Improvement in the Healthcare Sector: The Case of a Public Sector Hospital in Pakistan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-18, June.
    4. Kosa Golić & Vesna Kosorić & Slavica Stamatovic Vuckovic & Kosara Kujundzic, 2023. "Strategies for Realization of Socially Sustainable Residential Buildings: Experts’ Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-31, April.
    5. Fatmaelzahraa Hussein & John Stephens & Reena Tiwari, 2020. "Memory for Social Sustainability: Recalling Cultural Memories in Zanqit Alsitat Historical Street Market, Alexandria, Egypt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-20, October.
    6. Zia Ullah & Susana Álvarez-Otero & Mohammed Ali Bait Ali Sulaiman & Muhammad Safdar Sial & Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz & Khaoula Omhand, 2021. "Achieving Organizational Social Sustainability through Electronic Performance Appraisal Systems: The Moderating Influence of Transformational Leadership," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-14, May.
    7. Z. Goosen & E. J. Cilliers, 2020. "Enhancing Social Sustainability Through the Planning of Third Places: A Theory-Based Framework," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 150(3), pages 835-866, August.
    8. Taimaz Larimian & Arash Sadeghi, 2021. "Measuring urban social sustainability: Scale development and validation," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 48(4), pages 621-637, May.
    9. Ümran Duman & Buket Asilsoy, 2022. "Developing an Evidence-Based Framework of Universal Design in the Context of Sustainable Urban Planning in Northern Nicosia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-31, October.
    10. Barbieri, Elisa & Di Tommaso, Marco R. & Pollio, Chiara & Rubini, Lauretta, 2020. "Getting the specialization right. Industrialization in Southern China in a sustainable development perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    11. Anja Scheurich & Alexandra Penicka & Stefan Hörtenhuber & Thomas Lindenthal & Elisabeth Quendler & Werner Zollitsch, 2021. "Elements of Social Sustainability among Austrian Hay Milk Farmers: Between Satisfaction and Stress," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-20, November.
    12. Lucia Corsini & James Moultrie, 2019. "Design for Social Sustainability: Using Digital Fabrication in the Humanitarian and Development Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-20, June.
    13. Francesco Polese & Carmen Gallucci & Luca Carrubbo & Rosalia Santulli, 2021. "Predictive Maintenance as a Driver for Corporate Sustainability: Evidence from a Public-Private Co-Financed R&D Project," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-21, May.
    14. Kamaludin Yusra & Yuni Budi Lestari, 2023. "Human Mobility, Sociolinguistic Diversity, and Social Sustainability in Rural Areas: Insights from Indonesian Transmigrant Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-23, February.
    15. Kosa Golić & Vesna Kosorić & Tatjana Kosić & Slavica Stamatović Vučković & Kosara Kujundžić, 2023. "A Platform of Critical Barriers to Socially Sustainable Residential Buildings: Experts’ Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-33, May.
    16. Massoomeh Hedayati Marzbali & Aldrin Abdullah & Mohammad Javad Maghsoodi Tilaki & Mina Safizadeh, 2021. "Moving the 2030 Agenda Ahead: Exploring the Role of Multiple Mediators toward Perceived Environment and Social Sustainability in Residential Neighbourhoods," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, October.
    17. Jerome Ballet & Damien Bazin & François‐Regis Mahieu, 2020. "A policy framework for social sustainability: Social cohesion, equity and safety," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1388-1394, September.
    18. Batara Surya & Seri Suriani & Firman Menne & Herminawaty Abubakar & Muhammad Idris & Emil Salim Rasyidi & Hasanuddin Remmang, 2021. "Community Empowerment and Utilization of Renewable Energy: Entrepreneurial Perspective for Community Resilience Based on Sustainable Management of Slum Settlements in Makassar City, Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-36, March.
    19. Lili-Ann Wolff & Peter Ehrström, 2020. "Social Sustainability and Transformation in Higher Educational Settings: A Utopia or Possibility?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-21, May.
    20. Judith Solanas & Ingrid Hinojosa-Alcalde & Anna Vilanova & Susanna Soler, 2022. "Is Sport Coaching a Social Sustainable Profession for Women? Analysing the Experiences of Women Coaches in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-15, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1062-:d:483927. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.