State workers' compensation systems provide a form of insurance coverage for workers injured in the course of employment and may provide incentives to employers to protect their workers from injury. Agricultural workers are covered in varying degrees by workers' compensation laws in about three-quarters of the states. An example from Massachusetts illustrates the effects of design of a workers' compensation system on farmers' costs of participation and incentives to protect farmworkers from safety hazards. ©1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.