Michigan is famous for its fruit festivals. Visitors can sample cherries at the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City or blueberries at the National Blueberry Festival in South Haven.
The Apple Festival in Charlevoix and the Romeo Peach Festival feature fruit later in the season.
As a diverse crop-producing state and the top producer of asparagus in the country, Michigan has an agricultural scenery that is a picturesque blend of crop fields and fruit trees.
However, beneath this facade lies a harsh reality of precarious work and exploitative labor practices for Michigan’s farmworkers, who are often invisible to people who enjoy the fruits of their labors, according to the Michigan Farmworker Project’s ongoing research.
Few consumers are aware of the migrant and seasonal farmworkers who make this economy possible. In 2013, the last year for which official records exist in Michigan, the state saw close to 94,000 migrant and seasonal farmworkers. That count included their family members and children.
The state has not invested in counting workers in more than 10 years, a necessary step to improve their work and living conditions. Michigan recently released a request for proposals to undertake a new enumeration study this year.
In 2019, we launched the Michigan Farmworker Project as an academic collaboration with community and state organizations. The goal of the project is to increase understanding of the social, labor and housing situation of farmworkers in the state.
