In past blogs, I have written about the effect that climate change is having on specialty crops, livestock, pollinators, and availability of water for irrigation. Today, I want to explore how climate change, especially excessive heat, is affecting the productivity and well-being of farm workers. As of 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimated that about one-third (or 50 million) of U.S. employees had regular outdoor exposure as part of their work responsibilities. Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 1.6 billion people work outside on a regular basis.
Last year (2023), was the warmest year on record across the world, with the annual average temperature exceeding the 20th Century average by more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit (F) and breaking the previous record (from 2016) by nearly one-third degree F. As a result of high temperatures already experienced through the first six months of 2024, various analyses calculate that there is more than a 90 percent probability that this year’s global average temperature will exceed last year’s, setting yet another record.
Earlier this year, the UN’s International Labor Organization (ILO) released a report which found that over 70 percent of the world’s workforce is exposed to extreme temperatures at least once per year, resulting in nearly 19,000 work-related deaths and nearly 23 million work-related injuries or illnesses from this cause alone. It also predicted that the incidence of these deaths and injuries would likely rise over time due to the effects of climate change. The people in occupations most at risk from this problem include agricultural, construction, natural resource management and refuse collection workers.
Extraordinary hot weather is not the only health hazard faced by farm workers that has increased as a result of climate change in recent decades. In 2020, a year in which a severe drought covered most of the country, the National Interagency Coordination Center tallied more than 59,000 wildfires burning more than 10 million acres of land. That total of acres affected was more than double the total recorded for 1993. While a large share of wildfires are ignited by human carelessness or arson every year, scientists believe that the increased intensity and scope of wildfires overall is at least in part due to the effects of climate change.
Agriculture workers are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of heat and smoke. Outside activities such as digging irrigation ditches and picking crops can raise body temperatures and increase respiratory rates, making workers more susceptible to heat stroke.
At the federal level, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra (whose father picked crops in California), convened a task force of climate and health experts in March 2024 from agencies within his Department to discuss how to better protect farm workers from these hazards. At the time, there were no federal regulations in this area. In July 2024, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) started the rulemaking process on this topic by proposing a new rule under which farmers and other businesses would have to develop a heat injury and illness prevention plan (HIIPP) and monitor heat conditions for workers. Even indoor work sites would have to identify areas that have potentially hazardous heat exposure. The rule has different heat-index triggers at 80 degrees F and 90 degrees F. The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on July 2nd, and OSHA will accept comments on the proposed rule through early November.
There have been a variety of responses at the state level to this problem. A handful of states (California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and Minnesota) have established laws with standards for worker safety in extreme heat, although the current Minnesota law applies primarily to indoor workers. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the states of Florida and Texas passed laws barring local jurisdictions from establishing standards in this area. These are two of the top five states in terms of employing farm workers, potentially putting tens of thousands of workers at risk.
In 2011, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a nonprofit that represents Florida farm workers, established the Fair Food Program (FFP), which provides certification to farms which follow strict worker safety rules, including allowing workers to take 10 minute breaks during every two hours of work during the hottest part of the year. According to a February 2024 article in the Washington Post, that certification allowed those farms to sell to a select group of companies such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Walmart. The buyers would agree to pay a small premium for produce from farms where workers are protected and blacklist farms that get kicked out of the program. In exchange, they have been able to tout their ethical practices, a selling point with a growing number of U.S. consumers worried about the working conditions for those who produce their food.
The Coalition has convinced a number of farms in states other than Florida to follow their FFP guidelines, a number that grew earlier this year after the U.S. Department of Agriculture offered up to $2 million in subsidies to farms that abide by guidelines such as FFP’s. Similar standards have also been adopted by worker groups in other countries, such as in Chile and South Africa. Part of the enforcement process has been the practice of the FFP sending auditors to participating farms, to learn by interviewing workers if those operations are abiding by the rules. If farms are found out of compliance, their certification can be suspended, which loses them access to the FFP’s buyer network.
