"You Can't Deplete, Deplete, Deplete": Exploring Agricultural Workers' Solutions for Enhanced Social Sustainability

Background: The world faces unprecedented social and environmental crises including climate change, food insecurity, and widespread inequalities. Ecosocial work aims to address social and environmental injustices through sustainable development. Social sustainability is an aspect of sustainable development that focuses on the social well-being of a community (e.g., a place or a profession). Yet, compared to environmental and economic sustainability, social sustainability is understudied, impacting its value and utility. Few attempts aim to understand social sustainability from the perspectives of agricultural workers, an occupational group critical for shaping healthy and equitable futures through environmental stewardship, healthy food production, economic viability, and fair working conditions. In this study, we gain a localized understanding of Ohio agricultural workers’ perceptions of social sustainability, including what it is, what it could be, and the actions necessary to build a socially sustainable world.

Methods: For this qualitative, cross-sectional, exploratory study, we utilized a community-engaged research framework in collaboration with a non-profit association that supports agricultural workers in the US Midwest. Together, we designed in-depth interviews; the semi-structured interview guide included questions about respondents’ perceptions of social sustainability and their vision for a more social sustainability world. Agricultural workers were recruited using purposive sampling through our community partner’s email distribution list. Sixty-to-ninety-minute interviews were administered and recorded. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and pre-coded through memos and journaling. The data were analyzed using first-and-second-cycle inductive coding methods. Codes were used to generate categories and overall themes.

Results: Our sample (n=20) included 45% female, 40% male, 15% transgender/non-binary (T/NB) respondents; 75% were white, 15% Black, 5% Latino, and 5% Asian. The average age of participants was 38 with a range from 27 to 60 years old. Participants described the importance of social networks for problem-solving, knowledge and resource sharing, education, socializing, and intergenerational mentorship around their agricultural trade. For many, social sustainability was closely connected to economic viability and financial support from their communities. There was some variation between participants farming in rural and urban settings, with rural communities described as “gutted” or “fractured” with few resources or gathering places. For a socially sustainable future, participants identified the need for social safety net programs such as universal basic income, healthcare, and childcare. Interviewees expressed the need for alternative ways of organizing, including cooperative models, tool banks, and land and resource networks.

Implications: As a field, social workers are called to embrace an ecosocial work approach and inform transformative change for more socially and environmentally sustainable futures. Social workers can learn from and support agricultural workers’ visions for a more sustainable world. Participants identified the need for investments in rural infrastructure and far-reaching structural support including social safety net programs. Examples of collective action, mutual aid, and solidarity economy were identified as potential solutions for bolstered social sustainability. Social workers should partner with agricultural workers and the organizations that serve them to build coalitions that advocate for enhanced social safety nets and collective action to advance environmental and social justice.