The study described the development of the New England Farm Workers' Council, Inc., and documented significant interactions among selected elements of the Puerto Rican migrant farm labor system in the Connecticut Valley. These elements were the migrant farmworker community, the farm labor employers, and agencies of the federal government and of the governments of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Puerto Rico. Several of these elements were analyzed to provide a background to the Council's development. The study relied on primary data, i.e., correspondence, records of meetings, and unpublished and published materials, for documentation of observations. In general, it was concluded that during 1971 through 1973 the Council undertook the provision of services heretofore not offered to farmworkers throughout the Connecticut Valley, and became involved in advocacy efforts and in the promotion of self-determination among the farmworker community on an unprecedented scale. This report discusses the shade tobacco agricultural industry, and the role of the federal government and the governments of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Puerto Rico in the migrant labor system; discusses the background of the migration of Puerto Rican farmworkers, their demographic traits, and the characteristics of their life and work; addresses the Council's purpose, functions and development; and focuses on four activities involving the Council which have been determined to be significant in their influence on selected elements of the Puerto Rican migrant farm labor system in the Connecticut Valley. (NQ)