In Tuscany, more than one in two agricultural companies (53%) employs migrant workers, especially in the spring and summer. That's according to a fact-finding mission titled 'Migrants and agriculture in the region of Tuscany,' which was conducted by Italy's largest agriculture association Coldiretti (national confederation of growers) and the Campagna Amica ('friendly countryside') Foundation.

According to the fact-finding mission, the type of employment was mainly seasonal contracts and mainly for agricultural workers, whose duties include looking after livestock as well as cleaning and repairing the premises. The findings were presented last Thursday (October 13) during a meeting in the northern Italian city of Florence.

The reason for the increased demand for migrant labor, according to the research, include migrant workers' "higher level of flexibility and availability of migrants" compared to Italians -- such as working outside, on national holidays and on weekends.

Also read: Italy: Migrant employment high, but also poverty

24,000 migrant workers on Tuscany fields

According to the research, 24,000 migrant workers are employed in the agricultural sector in Tuscany. The propensity to hire migrants seems to be higher in firms that have a employed migrants for longer (85% of firms have over 11 years of experience). Large firms have the highest shares of migrant workers, with 50% of firms employing them owning over 21 hectares of land.

Close to half (44%) of all contracts between Italian firms and migrants workers is between six months to a year, while 31% of arrangements are between 3 to 6 months and 11% of all employments are between 1 to 3 months. Only 8% of contracts last for less than one month.

According to Coldiretti, these figures can be explained by the seasonal nature of the work in the fields. Exceptions include cases where a firm is managed together with migrants who have been residing in Italy for a long time; these migrants enjoy the owners' trust and are therefore given roles that last longer than 6 months. Overall, temporary contracts make up 66% of all employment relationships.

Also read: Italy: 358,000 foreigners work in agriculture

Tuscany project combats exploitation of migrants

Another project presented during said meeting in Florence is called Demetra, which is coordinated by Coldiretti Tuscany and helped 277 migrants who are victims, or potential victims, of trafficking and exploitation in the agricultural sector. These persons received information and job training.

Another aspect of the Demetra project is a professional matchmaking process between migrants and approximately 600 agricultural firms through the job portal called 'Job in Country of Coldiretti'.

"Coldiretti's role is, as always, to offer transparency and to enhance the value of what we produce," the regional president of Coldiretti said. "We applied this to food security, making it obligatory to indicate on a label where the product comes from," he added.

Also read: In Italy, 10,000 migrant farm workers live in 'informal settlements'