Migrant & Seasonal Farm Workers

Many migrant farmworkers travel to Tennessee each year to help with the cultivating and harvesting of several crops in specific regions of the state. Through our Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker Program, we help farmworkers and the employers who hire them.

To improve the living and working conditions of those farmworkers and their families who prefer to remain in the farm labor market we provide the following assistance:

  • Complaint resolution
  • Counseling
  • Farmworker rights and labor law information
  • Job development
  • Job search assistance and placement
  • Referrals to other organizations that serve migrant and seasonal farmworkers
  • Referrals to supportive services
  • Registration assistance
  • Testing
  • Training opportunities

Eligibility

An MSFW is either a migrant farmworker, a seasonal farmworker, or a migrant food processing worker:

Seasonal Farm Worker - an individual who is employed, or was employed in the past 12 months, in farmwork of a seasonal or other temporary nature and is not required to be absent overnight from their permanent place of residence. Labor is performed on a seasonal basis where, ordinarily, the employment pertains to or is of the kind exclusively performed at certain seasons or periods of the year and which, from its nature, may not be continuous or carried on throughout the year. Workers who move from one seasonal activity to another, while employed in farmwork, are employed on a seasonal basis even though they may continue to be employed during a major portion of the year. Workers are employed on a temporary basis where they are employed for a limited time only or their performance is contemplated for a particular piece of work, usually of short duration. Generally, employment which is contemplated to continue indefinitely is not temporary.

Migrant Farm Worker - a seasonal farmworker who traveled to do the farm work and was unable to return to his/her permanent residence within the same date.

Migrant Food Processing Worker - means a person who during the preceding 12 months has worked at least a total of 25 or more days or parts of days in which some work was performed in food processing (as classified in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 311411, 311611, 311421 for food processing establishments), earned at least half of his/her earned income from processing work and was not employed in food processing year-round by the same employer, provided that the food processing required travel such that the worker was unable to return to his/her permanent residence in the same day. Migrant food processing workers who are full-time students but who travel in organized groups rather than with their families are excluded.

How to Apply

Please visit a local American Job Center for assistance or complete online registration at Jobs4tn.gov.