Finding America’s Farmworkers

“A powerful, well-researched survey of the lives of agricultural guest workers” –Kirkus Reviews

My 2025 book is a narrative nonfiction portrait of a community our agricultural economy depends on.

You can read it all here.

Finding America’s Farmworkers
by Michael Durbin

Chapter 1. The Guests in our Field
The H-2A guestworker program in a nutshell

Chapter 2. Going North
The annual trip north of a typical H-2A farmworker

Chapter 3. Carolina Crops
Some expected and unexpected crops of North Carolina

Chapter 4. The Ministry
One tough job on Easy Street

Chapter 5. The Grower
Raising crops is no easy way to make a living

Chapter 6. La Rompecabezas (The Puzzle)
A veteran H-2A farmworker and his clever creations

Chapter 7. Spain vs. England
A brief history of how things got this way

Chapter 8. The Labor Camps
Guestworker housing in North Carolina

Chapter 9. Three Dads
English lessons, guitar picks, and an unexpected reunion

Chapter 10. The NC Growers Association
All about the nation’s largest H-2A employer

Chapter 11. The Union
Trying to organize North Carolina farmworkers

Chapter 12. Health & Safety
The unique medical risks facing an H-2A farmworker

Chapter 13. Human Trafficking
How some H-2A employers cross a disturbing line

Chapter 14. Those Without Papers
Some agricultural workers outside the H-2A program

Chapter 15. The Ministry, Part II
A new era begins on Easy Street, then another and another

Chapter 16. Finding Farmworkers
Discovering, forgetting, then discovering again

Chapter 17. Going Home
A very cold camp and a scary guy on the bridge