ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the social relation of production in which the "operator" appropriates the surplus value of hired laborers who perform the tasks of direct production. It describes the historical tendencies of the use of hired labor in Wisconsin agriculture since 1945. Government estimates of Wisconsin farm labor are divided into two groups: family workers and hired workers. The dependence on hired labor is less in both other field crops and vegetable and melon farms. Both the 1974 and 1978 Census of Agriculture clearly show that incorporated farms reported more hired labor than individual or family farms or partnerships. The primary functions of the state in the agricultural hired labor market are to provide research and development for the mechanization of agricultural production and, insofar as that effort is incomplete, to coordinate the recruitment and supply of labor to the fields and processing plants.
