In 1981, the Governor's Commission on Migratory and Seasonal Farm Labor began an initiative to develop and enhance communication and coordination linkages among migrant labor service providers. The Commission serves as a forum for farm laborers to share information and concerns, monitors programs, conducts inspections, promotes coordination, and…

In 1971, Louisiana's Rural Manpower Service provided the agricultural and rural non-agricultural populations with such services as placement services which included promotion and development of training programs with priority to veterans and other special applicant groups; processing clearance orders and foreign labor importation requests;…

The Rural Manpower Service Section of the Louisiana Department of Employment Security provided recruitment, placement, and other Employment Service programs to the agricultural and rural non-agricultural populations. Goals of the Rural Manpower Service were to: serve the agricultural workers and rural population in accordance with existing Federal…

Due to continued changes in Louisiana's agricultural economy, the supply and demand for seasonal and year-round farm workers changed during 1970. Therefore, the Rural Manpower Service's major emphases were directed toward worker and employer relations, recruitment, day-haul operations, and limited services to rural non-agricultural workers and…

The Mexican Farm Labor Program brought in an unprecedented number of Mexican workers to perform harvesting jobs in U.S. agriculture between 1942 and 1964. A political economy perspective is used to examine the process by which U.S. agriculture has come to depend on Mexican workers.

Stressing the provision of services to migrants and seasonal farmworkers in keeping with the U.S. District Court Order requiring and quantitatively proportionate service to this labor segment, the Rural Manpower Service provided a comprehensive program of service to all rural elements in Louisiana. Working in close conjunction with the Service was…

The report presents data on demographic, social and economic characteristics of 2.8 million persons 14 years of age and over who did farmwork for cash wages or salary in 1976, and summarizes some of the more pertinent changes in the size, composition, and employment patterns of hired farmworkers. Data, taken from a survey conducted by the Bureau…

Due to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's definition of a farm as an "economic unit which produces at least $1,000 worth of agricultural products a year", more than 570,000 farms were eliminated from the 1975 agricultural census. In addition, over 12,000 farms went out of business, continuing a trend begun in 1940. Although American food prices…

Describes a model for Hispanic farm laborer irrigation schools that was developed, implemented, and evaluated by cooperative extension personnel. Success of the approach was due to attention to critical elements in the model, which is applicable to other adult basic education programs. (JOW)

The Green Certificate Farm Training Program is on-the-job training with instruction delivered on a farm site, requiring the employer-farmer to serve as trainer. Trainees learn operational as well as management and entrepreneurial skills upon completion of a test and are certified at the levels of farm worker, foreman, or farm business manager. (SK)

Discusses agriculture and farming factors affecting immigration and integration policies. Examines seasonality, wages, and guest workers; the Immigration Reform and Control Act; and the search for seasonal workers. Data suggest that first generation immigrants age out of seasonal farm work with few skills to enable them to climb any job ladder,…

The United States Departments of Energy (DOE) and Labor (DOL) have cosponsored a number of demonstration programs to train economically disadvantaged migrant and seasonal farmworkers for energy-related technical and skilled occupations. A descriptive study of the first DOE/DOL demonstration was made to determine the impact of training on…

In poetry, prose, and correspondence, a collection of writings chronicles the development of a literacy campaign and educational program in Cobden, Illinois. The program--the Bilingual Literacy Campaign--evolved to respond to the need for literacy education among "fulanos," Hispanic-American farm laborers. The papers include the…

The number of farms in rural America continued to decline. In 1974, 23,420 farms went out of business. Farm subsidy payments, originally designed to assist small farmers, contributed little to the survival of the small farmer. The 1974 increased costs in fuel and fertilizer alone reduced net farm income by $5 billion--approximately a $2,500…

Located at the crossroads of America, Kansas had long experience of interstate migrants. For many decades armies of workers had entered the state to pursue the harvest of a number of crops, or to pick up whatever work was available on their way west in pursuit of a more rewarding life. The U.S. population was highly mobile and migration played an…