2025 AAEA Post-Conference Workshop on Reducing the Labor of Beginning Agricultural Labor Economics Research

Organized by: Alexandra Hill and Danielle Kaminski

This AAEA post-conference workshop on agricultural labor economics provided an opportunity to hear from representatives from the agricultural industry and the local government sector about the most pressing issues related to U.S. agricultural labor today and to learn from academic researchers about novel data and methods that can be applied to study these issues. The diverse group of presenters highlighted issues from the perspective of farm employers and their associations, farm worker advocates, and representatives from farm worker health and safety organizations, and government offices for worker protections, posing key unanswered questions related to policies, worker labor market behavior, worker and community health, and how workers interact with and are impacted by environmental issues.

The workshop provided opportunities for participants to ask questions of and interact with these industry and academic leaders to hone in on answerable, pertinent, and impactful research questions appropriate for publishing in economics journals. The workshop also facilitated networking amongst participants and presenters to develop actionable strategies for pursuing these research agendas.

The workshop was sponsored by the AAEA Trust and the Labor Economics Section. It took place on July 30, 2025 at the AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting held at Sheraton Denver Downtown.