Reframing migrants who feed the Netherlands: Learning across the Atlantic

Food work: essential yet precarious

Food is at the core of the life-making processes necessary for the reproduction of the economy and society (Bakker and Gill, 2019). In the Netherlands, a small country and major food exporter, most people involved in cultivating and harvesting food crops are EU migrants.

Paradoxically, these essential workers’ own needs for social reproduction are poorly met. The increase in both the absolute number and the relative share of European migrants among people experiencing homelessness in the Netherlands over the past 15 years is a stark illustration of these neglected needs. This is partly a result of the precarious employment contracts held by most migrant workers in Dutch agriculture.

Yet public and media discourse often blames migrant workers for the housing crisis in the Netherlands (Hochstenbach, 2025). In various ways, the dominant framing portrays them as a nuisance.

The role of framing for transformation

How can we move from this dominant framing towards an alternative master frame that recognizes migrant food workers’ essential role in society?

I understand frames as ‘interpretative packages’: they focus attention, convey meaning and can be transformative. This is especially true of collective action frames. In addition to these functions, collective action frames seek to broaden support for social movements and mobilize supporters ‘from the balcony to the barricades’ (Snow et al., 2018).

Framing theorists have argued that social movements are uniquely positioned to reshape interpretations of social life, particularly in the face of contradictions such as those surrounding the portrayal of migrant workers in the Netherlands.

Learning from US migrant worker organizations

There are valuable lessons to be learned from movements for migrant justice. Since 2013, I have worked with two migrant farmworker organizations in the USA: the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) in Florida and Migrant Justice in Vermont.

Migrant Justice, an organization representing dairy workers, has visited the Netherlands three times since 2024 to lobby Ahold Delhaize, the largest Dutch retailer, to join its innovative Milk with Dignity Program. In 2025, Migrant Justice, the agroecological movement in the Netherlands and other labour and solidarity organizations began a process of mutual learning and transatlantic solidarity.

In this post, I explore some of the frames underlying statements made by these organizations and their allies that I have witnessed since 2017. That year, I first met representatives of Migrant Justice during the CIW’s Return to Human Rights Tour.

The two organizations have sought to reshape public opinion about predominantly undocumented migrant farmworkers, a community that US society commonly regards as a group of legal, political, economic and societal ‘nobodies’ (Bowe, 2008: 26).

Can their work inspire a reframing of migrant farmworkers in the Netherlands?

Deriving diagnostic frames from contradictions

An early insight from our interactions concerns the productive role of contradictions in developing alternative frames.

During an event in Columbus, Ohio, a stop on the Return to Human Rights Tour, former Migrant Justice leader Victor Diaz described how his employer’s contradictory messages prompted him to reach out to Migrant Justice:

‘The first job that I had was close to the Canadian border. I earned $6.25 per hour, others further south earned more. When I asked for a raise, the farmer answered if I wanted a rise, then I should look for another job. […] I told my farmer I wanted to quit as I was not happy with the job anymore, one week in advance. Yet, the employer said it was not possible, I could not leave. We rely a lot on farmers, we need their support. But they also need us, we milk their cows.’ (Victor Diaz, 25 March 2017)

The employer’s contradictory responses revealed the mutual dependence between migrant dairy workers and farmers – a relationship that provides workers with a potential lever for change.

Victor’s experience illustrates how contradictions can provide a fruitful starting point for frames that identify ‘[…] some event or aspect of social life or system of government as problematic and in need of repair or change’ (Snow et al., 2018: 396).

From victimizing to empowering frames

A second lesson concerns the transformative power of migrant workers’ own testimonies.

During an ISS event entitled ‘Migrant farmworkers’ struggles for decent work and decent housing – Netherlands and US compared’, Migrant Justice co-coordinator Marita Canedo argued:

‘The most powerful thing people have is their own story and experience. […] If people are fired after a few weeks, that story has to become the power to inspire others, this is what they want to prevent for others.’ (Marita Canedo, 8 April 2025)

Participants in this and other events involving representatives of Migrant Justice and CIW have repeatedly confirmed that workers’ own testimonies have the power to challenge dominant understandings of farmworkers’ roles.

Moreover, while structures that victimize workers need to be made visible and challenged, efforts should not stop there. By arguing that experiences such as unfair dismissal should motivate others to struggle for change, Marita emphasizes that even experiences of victimization can become a source of inspiration and empowerment.

Shared frames help forging coalitions

Thirdly, shared frames can help forge coalitions.

For me, the frame of ‘people over profit’, used by Zekie, a First Nations activist involved in the movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock and an ally of CIW, provides a powerful example.

When I asked him what had brought him to the CIW’s Return to Human Rights Tour, his response was as brief as it was compelling:

‘Similar to us at Standing Rock, [the CIW] also demands that people go before profits.’ (Zekie, 25 March 2017)

Zekie’s response illustrates how consensus between different groups can be built through frames that emphasize shared values.

His message goes beyond insisting that migrant farmworkers are essential to food production. ‘People over profit’ establishes a principle that includes everyone who opposes an economy that subordinates people to profit-making.

Reframing has real impact

Such collective reframing can have a tangible impact on material justice.

Marita illustrated this when she highlighted the role of collective organizing in countering increasingly aggressive raids by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE):

‘There is fear [among migrant workers] of getting into trouble with immigration enforcement. The organisation is a protection [here]: We know that this person is doing good things for the community, is working for human rights.’ (Marita Canedo, 8 April 2026)

Being organized through Migrant Justice has enabled undocumented members to resist detention and deportation by highlighting their contributions to society. Drawing on this and similar arguments, Migrant Justice has succeeded in securing the release of many migrants from detention.

In a nutshell, the lessons I have learned from movements across the Atlantic about reframing migrant farmworkers’ roles are threefold.

First, reframing is more likely to succeed when it is part of a collective effort. Second, emphasizing shared values can broaden these efforts by bringing migrants and their allies together. Third, while it is important to expose the structures that marginalize migrants, opportunities should also be sought to transform experiences of marginalization into empowering frames.

And last but not least: listen to migrant farmworkers!