International Migration Infrastructures and New Food and Agricultural Labor Regimes

Sociologists have played a key role in revealing how modern food production increasingly relies on migrant labor. Research has shown how states and private industries facilitate the circulation of seasonal workers, creating a pool of cheap and flexible labor. Yet, the expansion of these temporary regimes has also produced a diverse set of visa categories, designed to enable the international mobility of agricultural workers. Aside from traditional guest workers, food production now depends on “exchange” visitors, trainees, working holiday visa holders, and even international students. This panel seeks contributions that explore the diverse international migration regimes and programs through which labor is directed into farms and food production systems. How are workers recruited and channelled into agricultural labor markets? Who are the intermediaries who facilitate these processes, and how do state institutions create such pathways? While much has been written about the exploitation of migrant workers, less attention has been paid to the actors and institutions that make agricultural labor mobile in the first place. This panel invites scholars interested in the intersections between international migration governance, labor mobility, agrarian change, and food production. The organizers intend to translate this panel into a special issue to be pitched to reputable food, agrarian, or international migration journals. They are also organizing this panel as a joint open session between RC40 Sociology of Agriculture and Food and RC31 Sociology of Migration.