• FARMWORKERS: Despite agricultural production being considered an essential industry amid the coronavirus pandemic, most of 2.4 million farmworkers in Mexico (90.9%) do not have health benefits as part of their employment, according to Mexico’s minimum wage commission (CONASAMI).
• PRECARIOUS: Given the increased focus on fresh foods, CONASAMI says it would expect that businesses, workers and government could come together to solve the precarious nature of farm employment in Mexico given that 93.4% of workers lack even a written contract.
• CHANGE: “It gives the impression that there’s a change of culture towards more consumption of local products. There’s an overdemand for (ag) products and this has generated that farm work has not fallen as manufacturing did”, said Jorge Sales, partner at the Sales Boyoli labor law firm.
• INTEGRATION: Mexico’s agricultural production is highly integrated to the US market with US $26 billion in farm exports crossing the border northbound annually. Among the most popular agricultural products coming from Mexico are: avocados, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, limes and berries,
