The necropolitics of expendability: migrant farm workersduring COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19has madevisible anddeepened inequalitiesglobally,whilealso manifesting the vital role of functional food, health, and caresystems in a context of strong socio-ecological interdependencies.We here mobilize bio–and necro–politics to problematize thedeclaration of agricultural workers as‘essential’and theaccompanying policies during the early months of the pandemic,focusing on the region of Lleida, Spain. We show how thisproclaimed indispensibility was aiming mostly at securing cheaplabor to agri-business while workers continued to be treated asexpendable. An intersectionality lens allows us to understanddiscrimination and racism as health determinants, operating withinand defining‘glocal’food necropolitics and COVID-19 biopolitics.