Narrative: e. 1.

Arkansas is a major producer of a variety of agronomic crops. Agriculture is Arkansas’ largest industry, adding around $16 billion to the state’s economy annually. The Natural State’s diverse landscape and climate produce a wide variety of Arkansas agricultural products. Arkansas is a major exporter of rice, soybeans, cotton, poultry and feed grains. There are 41,900 farms statewide and 96 percent of Arkansas’ farms are family-owned.

Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers (MSFWs) generally live in rural, isolated areas throughout Arkansas. Approximately 90 percent are of Hispanic/Latino origin; many are primarily monolingual in Spanish; and more than 70 percent are from Mexico. These farmworkers have several obstacles to employment which include transportation, childcare, limited English- speaking abilities and education, and job training. All of these barriers are major reasons for their lack of economic mobility.

Assessing the unique needs of the MSFW population in Arkansas, like many other states, presents several challenges. The MSFW is difficult to identify, share information with or locate. Despite high agricultural activity within the state, it appears a significant number MSFWs pass through Arkansas for seasonal work and continue to other states, looking at Arkansas as merely a “stopover”.

In 2023, we redoubled our efforts to create and strengthen relationships with other State agencies, such as the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. This partnership has already yielded benefits in our ability to identify the needs of our State's agricultural employers. Additionally, we have reached out to non-profit and private organizations such as the Mexican Consulate, Arkansas Human Development Corporation, and the University of Arkansas - Little Rock Extension Service. These efforts are designed to develop a more complete and comprehensive outreach plan into both the employer and farmworker populations in Arkansas. These relationships will provide the basis for reaching out to farmworkers to assess and address their employment, training, and housing needs.

Typical comments from Employers and their permanent, full-time field supervisors suggest that MSFWs come here to work, earn their money and move to the next location. They most generally are sending a significant portion of their pay to their families and must bring in a paycheck.

They have no time for training for other employment, unless they can no longer work in the fields due to age, health or other factors. Employers, obviously, want to keep these valued workers and would be reluctant to encourage training or employment outside of meeting the agricultural needs they have. Based upon comments from our Agricultural Employers, many of these workers may benefit from ESL or "soft skills" training during their stay in this country.

Other factors such as healthcare, schooling for children, employer requirements, rights, insurance, health & safety information, availability of adequate work clothing and transportation, among others, are needs of the MSFWs. Lack of identification and contact makes it difficult to know how great the needs are. MSFWs are rarely provided transportation to be able to come to town or a career center. Career centers are not available during the hours when they are not working. The needed information must be brought to the MSFW in the fields, communities, or frequented businesses/services they utilize.