"Everything changes, everything stays the same”. The governance of migrant labour in Spanish and Italian agriculture in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic placed great stress on food supply chains, following the policies adopted to contain the spread of the virus. The labour shortages in agriculture emerged early in Spain and Italy during the first months of the pandemic revealed the essential role of migrant farmworkers in ensuring food security. The purpose of this article is twofold: firstly, to examine whether the coronavirus pandemic contributed to change the public and political attitudes towards farm work and migration; secondly, to assess which type of epistemological perspective prevailed in these countries when debating on seasonal migration and industrial agriculture. The article uses a mix of research methods based on the Critical Discourse Approach, which includes a systematic review of media sources, the examination of relevant legal and administrative acts, the analysis of secondary statistical data, and, finally, the analysis of auto-representations and proposals put forward by migrant farmworkers and trade unions through their blogs, websites, and Facebook accounts. The major trends found as a result of this analysis indicate that even though the pandemic contributed to shed light in both countries on the pivotal role of migrant farmworkers and the forms of labour exploitation they suffer in the agricultural sector, this increased visibility did not shift into real policy and attitudes changes. At the heart of this problem is the fictitious separation between labour and capital, whereby migrant agricultural labour remains on the sidelines of the major discussions centered around the capital that are undergoing in European advanced economies.