GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

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.

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 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 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. 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.