A new survey of Spanish-speaking immigrant farmworkers on Vermont dairy farms — and specifically at farms not covered by a grassroots farmworker labor and housing rights program — shows a vast majority of farmworkers make below minimum wage, work six to seven days a week and are hurt on the job.
More than half of the 212 surveyed farmworkers also reported issues with housing, discrimination and having no paid sick days, holidays or vacation.
In comparison to a similar survey in 2014, “conditions are bad and sometimes worse,” said Marita Canedo, an organizer with the grassroots farmworker advocacy group Migrant Justice, which conducted both surveys.
For instance: 87% of farmworkers surveyed this year make below Vermont minimum wage ($13.67/hour), compared to 40% of farmworkers surveyed a decade ago. And while 28% of workers said they routinely worked seven or more hours without a break to eat in 2014, that rose to 32% this year.
The percentage of workers reporting injuries or health issues has also climbed dramatically in the last decade. In 2014, 30% of workers reported a workplace injury or illness, and in 2024, that number more than doubled.
“Almost 77% of those who we surveyed said that they have experienced injuries or health problems because of their work,” said Clare Hammonds, a professor of practice at UMass Amherst’s Labor Center, who collaborated on the survey with Migrant Justice.
Hammonds researches low-wage work conditions across industries. She said dairy farmworkers in particular face “dramatic” health and safety risks on the job.
“I feel like in any other industry — you know, or any other workplace — if you were hearing that almost 80% of people were experiencing health issues, that's a really shocking number,” she said.
Those health and safety risks include being crushed or hit by cows, not having access to first aid kits, being exposed to chemicals without proper protective equipment like masks and gloves, and chronic back and neck pain.
The biggest issue identified by surveyed farmworkers, however, was a lack of training.
“We know that workers get to a farm and they are trained by another farmworker, maybe a family member or someone that has been there for a little bit longer,” Canedo said. “And that person also is not paid, you know, for the time taken to train this new person.”
Immigrant dairy farmworkers were surveyed between February and July of this year, largely by current or former farmworkers.
This strategy, plus a decade of organizing by Migrant Justice, helped build trust with the farmworkers answering the survey questions, according to Canedo.
“So people are more open to speak about these things,” she said.
‘A tale of two dairy industries’
For its 2024 survey, Migrant Justice only spoke with farmworkers at dairies that do not participate in the group’s Milk With Dignity program.
Milk With Dignity is farmworker-created. Companies that sign on pay a premium to the farms they source dairy from. In exchange, the farms comply with a code of conduct to ensure dignified labor and housing conditions. The program includes worker-to-worker education as well as a 24/7 complaint line. Farms that don’t comply risk losing their dairy supply contract.
Milk With Dignity currently covers about 250 of Vermont’s 1,200 or so immigrant dairy farmworkers — Ben & Jerry’s agreed to join the program in 2017, and Vermont Way Foods recently agreed to bring on new organic dairy products sourced from Milk With Dignity farms.
Research has shown the program’s complaint line and enforcement mechanisms are successful at improving conditions for both farmworkers and farm owners.
Just after releasing its new survey results, Migrant Justice also published a new report about labor and housing conditions on dairy farms under the Milk With Dignity program.
The group says 88% of farms under the program paid workers minimum wage or above in 2023, and around 90% of workers had access to first aid kits, eye protection and face masks. All workers in the program have paid vacation.
The report also cites over $600,000 in housing improvements since the program started in 2018.
In comparing those stats to the 2024 survey results of non-Milk With Dignity farms, Migrant Justice organizer Will Lambek noted a stark difference.
“What we're seeing right now is a tale of two dairy industries,” Lambek said.
And to improve poor labor and housing conditions for farmworkers on non-Milk With Dignity farms, he added: “The solution is right there before us.”
The continued Hannaford campaign
Since 2019, Migrant Justice has campaigned for Hannaford Supermarkets to sign onto Milk With Dignity because, according to advocates, it’s one of the main buyers of Vermont dairy.
In response to farmworker advocacy, Hannaford has said it investigates complaints made through its “Speak Up Line,” that it has private-label milk suppliers complete workforce assessments on farms in its marketplace, and that it also has third-party audits to validate findings that include engagement with farmworkers. The company says any problems that are found are addressed directly with the respective farms.
When Vermont Public requested data from these assessments, a Hannaford spokesperson said HP Hood, a private-label milk supplier, would have that information. HP Hood declined to provide the requested data.
According to Migrant Justice, because Hannaford sources dairy products from HP Hood, and because HP Hood receives milk through the two major conventional dairy cooperatives Agri-Mark and Dairy Farmers of America — and because those cooperatives mix together milk from many member farms across Vermont — the working conditions across Vermont dairy farms identified in Migrant Justice’s survey are indicative of working conditions in Hannaford’s supply chain.
I feel like in any other industry — you know, or any other workplace — if you were hearing that almost 80% of people were experiencing health issues, that's a really shocking number.Clare Hammonds, UMass Amherst Labor Center professor of practice
Both Hood and Hannaford shared statements with Vermont Public affirming their commitment to the welfare of dairy industry workers.
Ericka Dodge, director of external communications and community relations for Hannaford, reiterated that the company will not join Milk With Dignity.
“[Milk With Dignity] is limited in both scope and impact,” Dodge wrote in the statement, adding that “concerns facing agricultural workers—and migrant workers in particular—are systemic, complex and extend well beyond Hannaford’s private label dairy supply chain.”
Dodge wrote that the company is continuing to work “with industry partners … who are respectfully and collaboratively engaged in problem-solving. Unfortunately, from our perspective, this is not the approach that Migrant Justice has taken with us.”
Migrant Justice organizers are changing up their approach somewhat. During a series of pickets this month outside Hannaford stores in Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire, they’re asking consumers to not cross the picket lines.
“That's a new way that the Hannaford customers can communicate to the company that they stand with farmworkers,” Lambek said. “They want Milk with Dignity, and they're willing to withhold their purchases when asked by workers.”
Marita Canedo, with Migrant Justice, pointed out that farmworkers are driving campaigns like this, and they’re doing so after more than a decade of grassroots organizing — including that initial 2014 farmworker survey.
“You know, people are used to hear[ing] the saddest stories of immigrants and agricultural workers — that are real — but at the same time, the same workers are bringing a solution that has been proven successful,” she said.
Immigrant dairy farmworkers and advocates will begin their series of pickets today outside the South Burlington Hannaford store at 6 p.m.
Corey Dockser contributed data visualizations for this story.
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