What is the most common crop that farmworkers harvest?
Crops that bruise easily, like fruits and vegetables, are still picked and packaged by hand. Easily bruised crops may include: apples, asparagus, beans, blueberries, cantaloupe, cherries, chilies, cucumber, eggplant, grapes, melons, mushrooms, onions, oranges, peas, peaches, peanuts, peppers, pickles, pumpkins, raspberries, squash, strawberries, sugar beets, tobacco, and tomatoes.12 Sturdier crops like grain are largely harvested by machine. While the West and Northeast employ farmworkers typically in fruit, vegetable, and horticulture crops, the hiring of farm labor in the Midwest is dominated by livestock production.13 Farmworkers are also commonly employed in poultry, meat, and egg processing.
