Beyond the agrimafie-caporalato binary: the restructuring of agriculture in Central Italy and its implications on labour relations

As in many other countries in the world, the Italian agricultural sector has witnessed a process of deep restructuring with the expansion of export-oriented production and the rise of global value chains in the agrifood sector. This paper argues that the new way of producing and delivering food, coupled with country-specific conditions, such as the structure of Italian agrarian capital, have created the room for new forms of exploitation, such as those based on seasonal migrant labour through practices of labour contracting and that sometimes amount to forms of 'modern slavery'. These new forms of exploitation are far from being exceptional. Although often associated with the territory control of Mafia organizations, this article argues that migrant labour exploitation through the labour contracting system is an integral feature of the contemporary agricultural production in Italy. This is shown through the case study of the fruit and vegetable production in the south area of Lazio region where firms can rely, through the role of labour contractors, on cheap and disposable migrant labour, especially Indian workers.