IMMIGRATION AND AGRICULTURAL LABOR POLICIES

generally have paid systematic attention to labor management prac-
tices. It is on the efforts of such agricultural employers that the future
can be built.

A RoIe for Cooperative Extension

The existing diversity of labor management practices offers an ideal
setting for Cooperative Extension to begin programs in the human
resource management area. In a sense, innovative farm employers
have begun to demonstrate what is possible. Cooperative Extension
needs to document these alternative practices, showing what was done,
with what results and at what cost. This information then can be
extended to other agricultural employers. In addition, there is avail-
able a rich source of research on personnel management in other in-
dustries which may be adapted and applied to agriculture.

Pilot programs of applied research and education on agricultural
personnel management recently have begun in Cooperative Extension
in California and Florida. These programs aim to improve the image
and nature of agricultural employment through educating employers
in modern personnel management practices and through offering di-
versified skill training to workers.

The outcome of this activity will be fewer jobs but better and more
stable jobs for a professional core of farmworkers and a more viable
long run future for agriculture in America now heavily dependent on
illegal foreign labor.

155

<<   9   10   11   12  

More intriguing information