Assessing and improving labour conditions and health and safety at work in farming

Proposals should analyse health and safety at work issues in the farming sector with a specific focus on working conditions (and how they will evolve with digital transitions, climate change, health risks, regulatory developments on chemicals, farmers mental health, injuries, etc.) and labour conditions (seasonal patterns, working time, income and work outside legal contracts, including mobile EU and non-EU workers) also in relation to the perceived attractiveness of farming or working in farming as a job. They should analyse work risks and the vulnerability of farm workers of different genders and ages. They should engage with current and potential future farmers and farm workers on their perception of work in farming and their perspectives and plans for the future, including farm inheritance/take over, seeking to understand the attractiveness of the job (e.g. in relation to wages, stability, seasonality etc.). They should assess the impact of the type of labour force involved (family, local, external) on society and on the farm (including from the workers’ perspectives) and the consequences in case of external shocks such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

Proposals should explore the potential of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and social economy and entrepreneurship to improve the situation of farm workers, including business models that reward improved working conditions through premium prices or other forms of reward, including for non-productive functions such as social inclusion, empowerment and care (non-EU good practices could be considered). They should analyse consumers’ willingness to pay for more ethical working conditions and enabling conditions for market development in this arena. To this end, they should support social innovation[[Social innovation is defined for this topic as “the reconfiguring of social practices, in response to societal challenges, which seeks to enhance outcomes on societal well-being and necessarily includes the engagement of civil society actors”. (SIMRA)]], social entrepreneurship or corporate social responsibility pilots in a limited number of localities to serve as role models or positive examples to learn from and be scaled-up.

They should explore the policy implications of the outcomes (including regulation and control); benchmark policy design and delivery and make recommendations for improved policy frameworks at the right level of governance considering the various competencies involved (EU, national, regional etc.). Finally, they should develop training and education actions to raise farmers, farm workers, trade unions and farmers organisations awareness of health-protecting innovations that can be scaled up.

Proposals must implement the multi-actor approach, bringing together multiple science fields, in particular the social sciences and humanities (SSH) (e.g. sociology, behavioural sciences, psychology etc.), actors with complementary knowledge of health, employment, farm contracts, taxation etc., farmers and farmer organisations or trade unions and support groups for farmers facing difficulties. This topic should involve the effective contribution of SSH disciplines. Proposals should cover a representative variety of countries and sectors at least in the EU, covering in particular countries and sectors in which intra-EU and non-EU mobile workers are a significant part of the sector’s labour force. Attention should be paid to gender and age disparities in the cases analysed and pilots supported. For gender-related issues, the project may engage in collaboration with projects funded under HORIZON-CL6-2022-COMMUNITIES-01-01: Boosting women-led innovation in farming and rural areas.