National Farm Workers Day 2023: Date, History, Facts

Colonial-era farm labourers endured terrible conditions in the fields. Men and women were enslaved by force or deception, with few rights and no assurance of eventual freedom.

National Farm Workers Day is observed annually on March 31 to honour the unsung champions on a farm who are the hired labourers who perform the more difficult tasks, including ploughing fields, operating tractors, spreading fertilizer, and trimming hedges. A farm’s labour force plays a crucial role in bringing produce to maturity. They are paid low salaries and work day and night in a variety of climates, crouched on fields under the glaring sun. Farmers wouldn’t be able to cultivate, maintain, and harvest produce on such a vast scale if it weren’t for their tenacity and dedication. Therefore, on this day, we honour and thank all farmworkers for making it possible to deliver fresh produce to our tables despite increasing risks and difficulties.

The background of National Farm Workers Day

Colonial-era farm labourers endured terrible conditions in the fields. Men and women were enslaved by force or deception, with few rights and no assurance of eventual freedom. In the 1600s, plantation owners, in need of more farm laborers, began enslaving African immigrants using crueller techniques and with no prospect of freedom. Consequently, by the time of the American Revolution, approximately 20% of the population in the 13 colonies consisted of African American farm labourers.

It took 55 years, the American Civil War, and World War I to put an end to this involuntary servitude, despite the fact that the nation’s expansion halted agricultural slavery and the international slave trade.

After the American Civil War, California became the centre for the importation of Asian farmworkers. During the 1930s and World War II, the farmworker immigrants migrated to Mexico. Cesar Chavez, a Mexican-American community organizer, farmworker, and civil rights activist, cofounded the National Farm Workers Association, which is now known as the United Farm Workers, in the 1960s. The organisation fights for the rights of migrant farmworkers and accomplished its first objective with the five-year Delano grape strike, which eventually led to long-overdue wage increases for grape pickers on California grape farms.

National Farm Workers Day may be a single day honouring the tireless efforts of farmworkers, but it should serve as an annual reminder that farm labour is still taken for granted.

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5 FARM WORKER FACTS THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND

In North Carolina, farmworkers are paid only one cent per pound of sweet potatoes harvested; they harvest more than 9,000 pounds per day.

Children as early as six years old are employed in agriculture in North Carolina.

The farmworker adolescents have the highest rate of high school dropout.

The incidence of tuberculosis infection among farmworkers is significantly higher than among the general population.

The shortage of farmworkers is real, as more than 550,000 U.S. farmers hire workers to cover more than 3 million farming jobs, but only 2.5 million U.S. farmworkers occupy these positions annually.

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