If you get hurt on the job in North Carolina, whether you're a software programmer in the Triangle or a public school teacher in Charlotte, you can rely on workers' compensation insurance to help pay your bills.

That is, unless you work for a small employer in North Carolina's largest industry. Here in this state that remains so dependent on agriculture, many farm workers do not have the protection that the rest of us take for granted.

These workers work long hours for low wages to put food on our tables. They are often employed seasonally and lack basic benefits available to entry-level employees of many other industries. With language and other barriers limiting their ability to help themselves, they may well live in substandard housing and have minimal access to health care.

Our state's farm workers also face injury and death rates that are higher than in other industries. Employers at larger farms, and those that employ farm workers in the federal H2A guestworker program, must provide workers' compensation insurance to their workers, but those with fewer than 10 workers are exempt. As the News & Observer pointed out in a May 5 editorial, our state's "failure to provide the same protections to many farm workers that other workers have . . . is a disgrace."

The legislature is now considering a measure to extend workers' compensation protection to farms with at least three employees. This is clearly a step in the right direction. Such a step would place agricultural employees on the same footing as the vast majority of other small business employees in North Carolina. All of North Carolina's workers should be provided adequate medical care at work and compensation for on-the-job injuries. It shouldn't matter that they are hurt in a field rather than an office.

It's important to remember that workers compensation insurance was originally designed to offer protections for both employers and employees. Workers are assured medical care and a percentage of their wages while out of work in cases of injury on the job. Benefits are paid regardless of who is to blame for the accident or injury, and employers are protected from catastrophic lawsuits that could force them into bankruptcy. For farmers, this protection is particularly valuable, as farming for most is not only their business, but their way of life.

Over the past year, I've had a chance to see for myself how agricultural employers can become leaders in improving working conditions. Duke University was the country's first academic institution to articulate a "Code of Conduct" for its suppliers, refusing to buy apparel bearing the "Duke" name from factories whose workers are paid below the minimum wage. After Duke students brought to our attention the plight of migrant workers in eastern North Carolina, whose labor helps provide food for our students and employees, we determined to become actively involved in this area as well.

That determination led to our forming a partnership with Mount Olive Pickle Company. Together, Duke and Mount Olive developed a "Statement of Compliance" that obligates Mount Olive's suppliers and growers, as part of their contract, to meet all applicable county, state and federal laws-for wages, transportation, housing, field sanitation, and worker safety. Mount Olive created a process for identifying suppliers and growers who fail to comply with these rules. It also launched an incentive program that rewards growers financially if they qualify as a North Carolina "Gold Star Grower," a recognition awarded by the North Carolina Department of Labor.

Bill Bryan, the president of Mount Olive Pickle Company, and I have met with officials of both the Department of Labor and Department of Agriculture to learn more about the regulatory issues regarding migrant labor. Although we represent two different kinds of institutions - a major research university and the country's largest privately held pickle company - we are both large employers in North Carolina - and we share a commitment to better working conditions, more frequent inspections, and basic decency for the people who grow and pick our crops.

Mount Olive's initiatives, and those of other responsible employers, have eased the hardships for many of North Carolina's farm workers, but they can go only so far. The state needs to step up and extend workers' compensation insurance for workers employed on many of the state's smaller farms. Such legislation would cover workers when they are injured on the job, and provide some protection for people who are often living on the edge. This would also be fairer to other employers who already provide this insurance. We wouldn't dream of forcing a factory worker or secretary to go without health care after an injury at work, and we shouldn't ask that of people who often need the assistance even more.