Special Issue: Migrant labour in the agri-food system in Europe: unpacking the social and legal factors of exploitation. (Special Issue: Migrant labour in the agri-food system in Europe: unpacking the social and legal factors of exploitation.)

ABSTRACT

This special issue aims to critically explore the complex links between labour migration and the agri-food sector in Europe, drawing attention to the variety of legal and social factors and issues at stake in the contemporary forms of exploitation underpinning the agri-food system. Five papers are presented sequentially, so as to unravel an analysis of migrant agricultural labour in different comparative contexts, from the Mediterranean to the far North of Europe, considering the production of fresh fruit and vegetables in fields and greenhouses, berry picking and meat processing, and how this has been impacted by labour market transformations and labour reforms, interventions to address the vulnerable conditions of workers in the agri-food sector, and the effects of COVID-19.