Summer harvest season ramps up across Europe, and hundreds of thousands of seasonal workers are once again in the fields.

EU agriculture couldn’t function without migrant workers. As national agricultural workforces has declined, migrant workers – from other EU countries and beyond – have kept farms running: between 2011 and 2017, the share of migrants in total EU agricultural employment grew from 4.3% to 6.5%, sustaining the harvests that stock European shelves.

As harvest season peaks this summer, the gap between EU legislation and the reality in the fields is exactly what PRIMACENTERS works to improve: fighting for decent working conditions for all workers, migrant and national alike.

Read the full research here.

Source: European Parliamentary Research Service, Migrant seasonal workers in the European agricultural sector (2021)