Farm Labor Dynamics in Southern New Mexico: A Transborder Phenomenon

Abstract

This study synthesizes and updates data from a number of studies of farm labor in New Mexico during the 1990's. Major conclusions include: 1) Attempts to improve farm labor conditions and to limit immigration by the passage of numerous federal laws has largely failed on both counts. 2) Cheap labor benefits producers but has little impact on retail food prices. 3) Farm labor contractors are often the scapegoats for abuses that arise out of an economic system that generates many pressures to shortcut the rules.