Narrative: e. 1. B.

A. Minnesota has 81,000 farms totaling nearly 27 million acres of the state’s 54 million acres. The average farm size is 332 acres. Minnesota’s growing season varies depending on where you are in the state: 100 days in the north to 150 days in the south. The Agricultural and Food Industry is the 2nd largest employer in Minnesota with (2/3) two-thirds of all agricultural jobs are off-farm, in processing, distribution, supply and service sectors. Minnesota is a top producer of frozen and canned vegetables. Corn is the state’s most valuable crop followed by soybeans. Minnesota’s leading fruit crop are apples. Minnesota leads the nation in producing sugarbeets, turkeys, oats, and sweet corn and green peas for processing. The state is second only to California in wild rice production. Minnesota is unique in the production of wild rice with it being cultivated paddy wild rice and traditional Native American hand harvested wild rice. The state is also a major producer of spring wheat, canola, hogs, dry beans and milk cows.

Minnesota is a leading state in annual farm income. It ranks at 5 among the states, generating about 4% of the nation’s total agricultural receipts. In terms of revenue generated Minnesota’s top five agricultural products are corn for grain, hogs, soybeans, dairy products, and cattle and calves. Livestock and livestock products account for about half of the state’s farm income. The most valuable livestock products are hogs, accounting for 18% of the state’s total agricultural revenues.

Key crops include sugarbeets in northwestern and southeastern Minnesota, June through September; vegetables in southeastern Minnesota, July-October; potatoes, statewide in August-October; Corn in central and southern Minnesota in July-September; Soybeans in central and southern Minnesota in June-August; apples in southeastern and metro in July-September

Migrant labor participation is concentrated in the months between May-October based on the growing or harvesting of the particular crops. The use of mechanization and Roundup Ready chemicals in the state has greatly reduced the number of farm workers needed in fieldwork. Many farm workers have continued to take advantage of other longer-term employment opportunities in vegetable, meat and poultry processing companies. The turkey processing companies employ 3,900 workers year round, the poultry companies employ 6,300 workers. (MN Dept. of Agriculture).

In addition, local worker shortages have contributed to the increasing interest of employers hiring migrant and seasonal farm workers in dairy farms, nurseries, landscaping and sod farms. Since some workers return seasonally to areas where they have established employer relationships, they do not seek the services of the local one-stop WorkForce Centers (WFC). Therefore, it is difficult to provide an actual number of migrant farm workers in this state. The best estimate of 15,000 to 20,000 migrant and seasonal farm workers residing in Minnesota during the peak season (May-October) with most being recruited and contracted at their permanent home base, for hire by the Food Processing and the Turkey & Poultry company recruiters/contractors. These employers offer on-site housing to the hired workers. The farmworkers working in Minnesota are primarily employed by the Food Processing companies (migrant food processors). The Food Processing companies including SENECA/Green Giant, and Lakeside Foods recruit the workers in Texas every spring. The migrant food processing workers arrive to the work sites in in Rochester, Montgomery, Glencoe and Blue Earth, and Brooten, Owatonna, and Plainview, MN.