“We need more!”: Mexican Immigrants’ Tacit Knowledge and Mississippi’s Beef Cattle Industry

The United States’ deeply rooted reliance on forms of racialized and undervalued agricultural labor has long been underpinned by a common misconception that this work requires little to no skill or prior knowledge. This paper focuses on contemporary centrality of (de)valued migrant knowledge in the modern animal agriculture industry in the US South, employing research on tacit knowledge to explore the often-ignored impact immigrant knowledge has on the Mississippi beef cattle industry. Through a focus on Mexican migrants’ indispensable skills and tacit knowledge, the article emphasizes the critical role farmworkers’ knowledge plays in negotiating operating threats. Utilizing semi-structured interviews with farm owners and Mexican farmworkers, I evaluate how skill is visible in daily work, how workers obtain and transfer tacit knowledge, and how farm owners perceive this knowledge. Not only are skill and knowledge highly regarded in the cattle industry, but Mexican workers are intentionally sought out for them. Despite this, I argue, Mexican migrants’ experiences and opportunities are conditioned by the region’s persistent agricultural plantation bloc that reproduces racialized and migratory labor exploitation. Hence, I highlight a paradox whereby Mexican cattle workers are highly acknowledged for their contributions but simultaneously exploited and thus, constrained in fully leveraging their knowledge.