Protracted dependence and unstable relations: Agrarian questions in the H-2A visa program1

Role of Gardening in Mental Health, Food Security, and Economic Well-Being in Resettled Refugees: A Mixed Methods Study

“…Additionally, given that other factors such as age at which resettlement occurs and the length of resettlement in the host country are known to influence health and well-being (Hocking and Sundram 2022), future studies with a larger sample may be able to examine the relative influence of gardening in older versus younger cohorts of resettled adults. As some scholars argue (for instance, Edelman et al 2014) the framework of food sovereignty, which includes access and rights to means of nutritious food, may also be beneficial in the study of culturally appropriate and responsive pathways to food prod-uction and consumption in displaced populations (Minkoff-Zern et al, 2023).…”

“…Analytic strategy conducted for this study is in line with mixed methods studies where findings from qualitative questions are transformed to facilitate better mixing or connection with quantitative data (Onwuegbuzie and Teddlie 2003). An in-depth analysis of all qualitative data from this study has been published elsewhere (Minkoff-Zern et al, 2023).…”

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“…Specialty crop workers made up 76% of all national H-2A workers in 2019 (Castillo et al, 2021), and most specialty crop farmers using the H-2A Program are moderate-sized operations (Minkoff-Zern et al, 2022; U.S. Department of Labor [US DOL], n.d.). 6 Eighty percent of these farms hire fewer than 50 workers per season, with 63% of farms hiring fewer than 25 workers per season (Minkoff-Zern et al, 2022). This sample of interviews with moderate-sized specialty crop farmers therefore represents the most common type of farmers using the H-2A program.…”

“…We highlight the voices of Senators in this analysis given that during the time period of our research, the FWMA was being debated in the Senate and not in the House of Representatives.6 In our previous research(Minkoff Zern et al, 2022), we used the term "horticulture" instead of "specialty crop," reflecting terminology often used in the field of rural sociology. In this article we use the term "specialty crop," as it is a more broadly understood term that encompasses fruit and vegetable growers.…”