ABSTRACT
An assessment of the agricultural labor force with respect to adequacy, sustainability, nutrition, and equity until the end of the present century is relatively simple, given the fairly extensive history of this labor force. The present agricultural labor force consists of two basic segments: nonhired or self-employed labor, consisting primarily of family-farm owners and operators and members of their families; and hired or employed labor. Some of the difficulties are due to the character of arid the changes in the agricultural labor market. Current methods for categorizing the hired labor force in agriculture are based on the number of days worked annually. The systematic underreporting of seasonal farmworkers of Mexican extraction poses serious questions for those who study the agricultural labor force. Systematic data do not exist about the various types of larger and corporate units, but the illustrative material suggests the growing importance of large employers of farm labor.
