California had a market value of agricultural products sold of
$25.7 billion in the year 2002 ranking it as the top
agricultural producing state in the country. Approximately 74%
of this market value was attributed to crop sales. California
producers spent nearly $20.5 billion on total farm expenses. The
largest single expense for agricultural producers in the state
was labor at $4.3 billion. Another $1.6 billion was spent on
contract labor. Hired and contract labor expenses accounted for
nearly 29% of total farm expense. Approximately 34,000
California farms hired over 535,000 laborers. Of these farms,
25% reported hiring migrant labor and 29% hired 10 or more
employees. With labor being such an integral part of the
California producers’ operations, the purpose of this project is
to do a cross-comparison regarding labor issues with other
agricultural competitors, both domestic and international.