California farmers are turning to nonfarm employers to fill lower wage seasonal jobs

California’s agricultural employers hired an average 414,000 workers between 2018 and 2023 and reported an average 886,000 unique farmworkers each year, a ratio of 2.1 workers for each average or full-time equivalent (FTE) job. The ratio of two workers for each FTE job is stable, but a rising share of workers are brought to farms by nonfarm crop support firms, including farm labor contractors (FLCs). Farmers outsource seasonal and specialized tasks to crop support firms to save money by paying for labor and other services when they are needed. FLCs account for two-thirds of average crop support employment, which highlights the challenge of regulating the intermediaries whose average employment is about the same as for workers hired directly by crop farmers.