Not as hard as it seems? Labor challenges and opportunities for agroecological practices in the United States
Agroecology offers social and environmental benefits, yet its perceived high labor demands challenge adoption in U.S. fruit and vegetable systems. A national survey of 599 farmers and interviews in California and New York show labor barriers—time, management complexity and cost—are among the top reasons farmers avoid agroecological practices. Non‑users consistently overestimated labor needs compared to farmers with hands‑on experience. Large‑scale farms, facing the greatest labor scarcity, pursued further mechanization despite already being highly mechanized. Rising labor costs, including minimum‑wage increases, intensified challenges. Results underscore the need to engage farmers and farmworkers directly to design solutions that reduce labor constraints and support agroecological transitions.
Subject Tags
- Agriculture
- Business and Industry
- Policy
Abstract
Agroecology has been promoted as an alternative to industrial agriculture for many reasons, including the social and environmental benefits associated with agroecological practices. Yet, agroecological practices are commonly characterized as requiring more labor than non-agroecological, capital-intensive farm management. The anticipated high labor requirements of agroecological practices raise major questions about agroecological transitions in fruit and vegetable production in the United States, where political-economic pressures have promoted land consolidation and mechanization, the agricultural labor market is shrinking, and labor is often fruit and vegetable farmers’ greatest expense. To understand how labor requirements interact with farm size to create barriers to agroecological practice use among fruit and vegetable farmers, we conducted a national survey (n = 599) and interviewed farmers in California and New York (n = 49). Labor barriers (time demand, management complexity, and expenses) were selected as one of the top reasons for not using a practice for seven of eight practices assessed. Notably, farmers who did not use a given agroecological practice perceived a greater labor requirement than farmers who had experience using the same practice. We also found that large-scale farmers, who faced greater labor scarcity than small- and medium-scale farmers, pursued more mechanization despite already managing the most mechanized operations. Lastly, labor policy changes, such as state minimum wage increases, were perceived as exacerbating many farmers’ labor challenges. Our results illustrate distinct issues and potential solutions among differently sized farms, underscoring the need to directly engage with farmers and farmworkers to address labor-related barriers to agroecological transitions.
Citation
Liebert, J., Bezner Kerr, R., Gennet, S., Hart, A. K., Power, A. G., & Ryan, M. R. (2025). Not as hard as it seems? Labor challenges and opportunities for agroecological practices in the United States. Agriculture and Human Values, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-025-10796-z
TNC Authors
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Sasha Gennet
Grazing Lands Strategy Manager
The Nature Conservancy
Email: sgennet@tnc.org -
Abigail K. Hart
Agriculture Project Director, Water Program, California
The Nature Conservancy
Email: abigail.hart@tnc.org