Sammanfattning

This article focuses on migrant labour in Nordic agriculture, wild berry picking and food processing. The starting point is the fear of a food crisis at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic (2020) because of the absence of migrant workers. The question was raised early in the pandemic if food systems in the Global North are vulnerable due to dependence on precarious migrant workers. In the light of this question, we assess the reactions of farmers and different actors in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden to what looked like an unfolding food crisis. In many ways, the reactions in the Nordic countries were similar to each other, and to broader reactions in the Global North, and we follow these reactions as they relate to migrant workers from an initial panic to a return to business as usual despite the continuation of the pandemic. In the end, 2020 proved to be an excellent year for Nordic food production in part because migrant workers were able to come. We discuss reasons why the Nordic countries did not face disruptions during the pandemic, map out patterns of labour precarity and segmentation for migrant labour in agriculture and food production in the Nordic countries and propose questions for further research.

Nyckelord

agriculture; coronavirus; food processing; migrant labour; Nordic countries; precarity; wild berry picking

Publicerad i

Sociologia Ruralis
2023, Volym: 63, nummer: 4, sidor: 907 - 927
Utgivare: WILEY

SLU författare

• Kuns, Brian

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Fischer, Klara

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Globala målen

SDG2 Avskaffa hunger, uppnå tryggad livsmedelsförsörjning och förbättrad nutrition samt främja ett hållbart jordbruk


UKÄ forskningsämne

Ekonomisk geografi
Internationell Migration och Etniska Relationer (IMER)


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12443

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/122794