Country folk — workers hiding behind vegetables? (8)
I believe the answer is:
peasants
'country folk' is the definition.
'peasants' can be an answer for 'folk'. I also know that 'country' relates to this answer.
'workers hiding behind vegetables?' is the wordplay.
'workers' becomes 'ants' (worker ants).
'hiding behind' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'vegetables?' becomes 'peas' (peas are a type of vegetable).
'ants' after 'peas' is 'PEASANTS'.
(Other definitions for peasants that I've seen before include "Old tillers of the soil" , "Farm labourers, now archaic" , "uncultured people" , "Anapests about farm labourers" , "Rustics" .)