IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/apecpp/v44y2022i3p1591-1609.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Seasonal farm labor and COVID‐19 spread

Author

Listed:
  • Diane Charlton

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic in 2020 caused unprecedented shocks to agricultural food systems, including increased risk to worker health, labor‐related input costs, and production uncertainty. Despite employer precautions, there were numerous worksite outbreaks of COVID‐19. This paper examines the relationship between month‐to‐month variation in historical agricultural employment and changes in the incidence of confirmed COVID‐19 cases and deaths within U.S. counties from April to August 2020. The results show that employment of 100 additional workers in fruit, vegetable, and horticultural production was associated with 4.5% more COVID‐19 cases within counties or an additional 18.65 COVID‐19 cases and 0.34 additional COVID‐19 deaths per 100,000 individuals in the county workforce.

Suggested Citation

  • Diane Charlton, 2022. "Seasonal farm labor and COVID‐19 spread," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(3), pages 1591-1609, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:apecpp:v:44:y:2022:i:3:p:1591-1609
    DOI: 10.1002/aepp.13190
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13190
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/aepp.13190?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tianyuan Luo & Genti Kostandini & Jeffrey L Jordan, 2018. "The impact of LAWA on the family labour supply among farm households," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 45(5), pages 857-878.
    2. Diane Charlton & J. Edward Taylor, 2016. "A Declining Farm Workforce: Analysis of Panel Data from Rural Mexico," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1158-1180.
    3. Timothy J Richards, 2018. "Immigration Reform and Farm Labor Markets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1050-1071.
    4. Richards, Timothy J., 2018. "Immigration Reform and Farm Labor Markets," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274165, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Andrew Schmitz & David Seckler, 1970. "Mechanized Agriculture and Social Welfare: The Case of the Tomato Harvester," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 52(4), pages 569-577.
    6. J. Edward Taylor & Dawn Thilmany, 1993. "Worker Turnover, Farm Labor Contractors, and IRCA's Impact on the California Farm Labor Market," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 75(2), pages 350-360.
    7. Michael A. Clemens & Ethan G. Lewis & Hannah M. Postel, 2018. "Immigration Restrictions as Active Labor Market Policy: Evidence from the Mexican Bracero Exclusion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(6), pages 1468-1487, June.
    8. Andrew I. Friedson & Drew McNichols & Joseph J. Sabia & Dhaval Dave, 2020. "Did California’s Shelter-in-Place Order Work? Early Coronavirus-Related Public Health Effects," NBER Working Papers 26992, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Charlton, Diane & Taylor, J. Edward & Vougioukas, Stavros & Rutledge, Zachariah, 2019. "Innovations for a Shrinking Agricultural Workforce," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 34(2), May.
    10. Ifft, Jennifer & Jodlowski, Margaret, 2016. "Is ICE Freezing US Agriculture? The Impact of Local Immigration Enforcement on Farm Profitability and Structure," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235950, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Diane Charlton & Genti Kostandini, 2021. "Can Technology Compensate for a Labor Shortage? Effects of 287(g) Immigration Policies on the U.S. Dairy Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(1), pages 70-89, January.
    2. Tianyuan Luo & Genti Kostandini & Jeffrey L. Jordan, 2023. "Stringent immigration enforcement and the farm sector: Evidence from E‐Verify adoption across states," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(2), pages 1211-1232, June.
    3. Marcelo Castillo & Diane Charlton, 2023. "Housing booms and H‐2A agricultural guest worker employment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(2), pages 709-731, March.
    4. Rutledge, Zach, 2020. "No Farm Workers, No Food? Evidence from Specialty Crop Production," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304249, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Tianyuan Luo & Genti Kostandini, 2022. "Stringent immigration enforcement and responses of the immigrant‐intensive sector: Evidence from E‐Verify adoption in Arizona," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(4), pages 1411-1434, August.
    6. Jeff Luckstead & Rodolfo M. Nayga & Heather A. Snell, 2023. "US domestic workers' willingness to accept agricultural field jobs," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(3), pages 1693-1715, September.
    7. Zachariah Rutledge & Pierre Mérel, 2023. "Farm labor supply and fruit and vegetable production," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(2), pages 644-673, March.
    8. Stephen F. Hamilton & Timothy J. Richards & Aric P. Shafran & Kathryn N. Vasilaky, 2022. "Farm labor productivity and the impact of mechanization," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(4), pages 1435-1459, August.
    9. Dahye, Kim & Castillo, Marcelo & Rutledge, Zachariah, 2023. "Domestic Farm Employment and the H-2A Visa Program," 2024 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 5-7, 2024, San Antonio, Texas 339079, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Diane Charlton & Marcelo Castillo, 2021. "Potential Impacts of a Pandemic on the US Farm Labor Market," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 39-57, March.
    11. Castillo, Marcelo J. & Rutledge, Zachariah & Kim, Dahye, 2023. "Domestic Farm Employment and the H-2A Visa Program," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335578, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. William Ridley & Stephen Devadoss, 2021. "The Effects of COVID‐19 on Fruit and Vegetable Production," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 329-340, March.
    13. Ifft, Jennifer & Jodlowski, Margaret, 2022. "Is ICE freezing US agriculture? Farm-level adjustment to increased local immigration enforcement," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    14. A. Ford Ramsey & Tadashi Sonoda & Minkyong Ko, 2023. "Intersectoral labor migration and agriculture in the United States and Japan," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(3), pages 364-381, May.
    15. Castillo, Marcelo & Simnitt, Skyler & Astill, Gregory & Minor, Travis, 2021. "Examining the Growth in Seasonal Agricultural H-2A Labor," Economic Information Bulletin 327365, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    16. Christiaensen,Luc & Rutledge,Zachariah Judson & Taylor,J. Edward, 2020. "The Future of Work in Agriculture : Some Reflections," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9193, The World Bank.
    17. Hamilton, Lynn & McCullough, Michael P. & Brester, Gary W. & Atwood, Joseph, . "California’s Wage Rate Policies and Head Lettuce Prices," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 51(2).
    18. Rutledge, Zachariah & Mayorga, Joaquin, 2022. "Chinese Trade Competition and Mexican Farm Labor Supply," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322515, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Christiaensen, Luc & Rutledge, Zachariah & Taylor, J. Edward, 2021. "Viewpoint: The future of work in agri-food," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    20. Ramsey, A. Ford & Sonoda, Tadashi & Ko, Minkyong, 2021. "Aggregation and Threshold Models of Intersectoral Labor Migration: Evidence from the United States and Japan," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315110, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:apecpp:v:44:y:2022:i:3:p:1591-1609. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)2040-5804 .

    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.