The use of migrant labor in Wisconsin agriculture began in the early 1900s. These workers, mostly of European extraction, were hired to cultivate and harvest sugar beets and various vegetable products. During World War II, when farm labor was in short supply, prisoners of war from Germany and Italy were used on many Wisconsin farms to meet demands. Also during the war, the federal government brought experienced farm workers from Jamaica, the Bahamas, British Honduras and Mexico to work on Wisconsin farms. The first comprehensive medical plans, which included on-the-job workman's compensation and off-the-job health care insurance were established during this period. These benefits, however, were only available to foreign migrants as part of the labor provision agreements signed with their home governments. All foreign workers entering the state were checked for contagious or infectious diseases and afflications which might hamper their work ability, and were innoculated against typhoid and smallpox.
The first Spanish-speaking agricultural laborers in Wisconsin were recruited by sugar beet company representatives from the southwestern United States in the late 1920s. The employment of laborers of Mexican origins increased dramatically in the decade following World War II. From 1951 to 1964, Wisconsin farmers participated in the Bracero program, an arrangement where by growers could obtain workers from Mexico if there were no other farmhands available. Some workers came to Wisconsin from Mexico but most were from the southwestern United States, especially southern Texas. During the 1950s and 1960s an estimated 85 to 90 percent of agricultural migrant workers in Wisconsin were of Mexican-Texan heritage. Over 20,000 migrant laborers and their famililies worked in Wisconsin in 1955, the peak year for use of seasonal workers.
More thorough regulation of migrant health conditions came in the post World-War II period. The first step toward improving health conditions was to require an upgrading of sanitary conditions in the migrant camps. In 1949, Wisconsin State Board of Health regulations in effect since 1933 were revised and strengthened. In 1951, the board was given the authority to inspect, register, and certify migrant camps for compliance with its minimum health standards.
Serious health and hygiene problems were prevelant among the migrant population. Workers experienced a higher incidence of infective and parasitic diseases, diseases of the respiratory and digestive system, malnutrition and high infant mortality, lower life expectancy, and poor or non-existent dental care. In addition, their mobility and work conditions were conducive to the spread of infections. Chapter 640, Laws of 1951, authorized the Public Health Nursing Section of the Bureau of Community Health and Prevention begin sending nurses to migrant camps. While local doctors sometimes volunteered their services health care for seasonal agricultural laborers remained largely inadequate.
The Migrant Health Act of 1962 (P.L. 87-692), and as amended in 1968 (Section 319 of Title IV of P.L. 94-63) authorized the U.S. Public Health Service to make grants to assist communities in extending local health services to migrants. After local plans were approved, grants were made to local governments and non-profit organizations to help pay for the cost of medical services for domestic migratory workers and their families.
The first migrant program in Wisconsin federally funded under the Migrant Health Act was in Endeavor in 1964. Similiar projects based in Beaver Dam and Wautoma soon followed, implemented by volunteer service organizations. In 1972 these three federally funded projects merged into a non-profit corporation called La Clinica de los Campesinos, Inc. Further extensions of the Migrant Health Act allowed La Clinica to become the central provider of health care to migrant workers in Wisconsin. La Clinica maintained a year-round medical clinic in Wild Rose and seasonal satellite clinic in Fox Lake. Other volunteer groups used federal funds to organize several smaller scale projects in central and southeastern Wisconsin during this period.
The Bureau of Community Health and Prevention (BCHP) of the State Board of Health (Department of Health and Social Services after 1967) assisted in the development of all the aforementioned projects, contributing personnel and resources from their public health nursing, dental, and nutrition sections. The BCHP assisted non-profit groups write grant applications, sponsored conferences, and served as a vehicle to share information on various migrant health projects operating in the state.
In Wisconsin, migrant labor has gradually been displaced by agricultural machinery and the use of chemical products, such as herbicides. By 1978 the number of seasonal laborers had been reduced to about 6,500, one-third of the peak. During the 1980s, however, Mexican-Americans still constituted the largest group of migrant laborers working in the state. Smaller numbers of seasonal workers, coupled with limited federal funding during the 1980s, had greatly reduced migrant labor health programs in the state by the early 1990s.
