It’s going to be another hot summer in Florida. The most vulnerable are those with the least resources to cope with the heat: underserved communities and communities of color, who are often excluded from environmental and climate protections.
That includes the state’s more than 150,000 farmworkers who are responsible for growing the food that nourishes us. Jeannie Economos is the Pesticide Safety and Environmental Health Project Coordinator for the Florida Farm Workers Association. Her research focuses on pesticide protection for farmworkers, as exposure to pesticides can lead to disease and birth defects.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Amy Green: How hot is this summer for farmworkers in Florida?
Jeannie Economos: Long-time farmworkers say they feel the heat differently every year, even though they’re used to it because they work in Florida. And it feels even hotter. And rather than just being hot, it feels like it’s scorching, or even attacking. There’s a quality of heat that I’ve never experienced before, it’s really harsh.
GREENE: How does the heat affect the body, especially for Florida farmworkers?
Economos: Affects all aspects of the body. One of our main concerns is dehydration. Dehydration doesn’t just make you feel thirsty, tired, and weak. However, chronic dehydration, or even acute dehydration, can affect other organs such as the kidneys, heart, brain, and liver because blood flow is different throughout the body. Removal of toxins is different. That is, it actually affects every organ of the body, but people are not aware of it. You may feel dizzy while climbing a ladder. Your judgment may change and you may fall off the ladder. If it is very hot and you become dehydrated, you are more likely to have an accident.
GREENE: What are Florida’s main crops?
Economos: Florida is really diverse. We have a lot of what they call specialty crops, but it’s really strange that they call the most important crop a specialty crop. But there are lots of blueberries, strawberries, and tropical fruits. Although the orange industry has shrunk significantly, orange groves still remain. There are vegetables such as lettuce, green peppers, all types of green peppers, green peppers, and other types of green peppers. Cucumbers, corn, cabbage, kale, broccoli, all kinds of vegetables, pumpkin.
But much of what we all take for granted and are available in stores every day is grown by farmworkers in the summer, late spring, and early summer. There are also watermelons, melons, and other types of melons. I mean, just about everything you can think of.
GREENE: Two years ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that prohibits local governments from providing heat protection for outdoor workers. How did this measure affect Florida farmworkers?
Economos: Well, that’s terrible. (Florida Farm Workers Association) supported a bill in the state Legislature that would force the state to pass heat protection standards for all outdoor workers. We tried to get the state to pass really basic, simple things like access to water, access to shade, enough breaks to drink water. And the producers said, “We’re already doing this. We don’t need these regulations.” Well, if you’re already doing it, you don’t need to worry about these regulations. It’s for those who don’t.
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Green: Florida is also vulnerable to storms and flooding that will intensify as the global climate warms. What other climate and environmental risks are Florida farmworkers dealing with?
Economos: They are the most affected communities. And they commonly live in sometimes inadequate housing. And they are often in vulnerable areas. So it’s not just floods and home damage that affect farmworkers. However, if their crops are damaged, they also lose their jobs. There they are trying to repair their homes, find a place to live, and recover from the storm itself, but they may not have work for two weeks or two months until the next crop is harvested. And if you’re in the country illegally, you’re afraid to ask for help, so you actually go underground.
I think what people don’t realize is, first of all, farmers work very hard. It’s physical labor. It’s hot. Water bottles are also often not allowed into the workplace, especially for fear of contaminating food crops.
So you need to stay hydrated, so you have to walk to the cooler, wherever there is a cooler, to drink enough water. It is sometimes 400 meters away and sometimes the water is not cold. If you are working outdoors, the water may not be clean. And often they don’t have time to go get a drink of water because their boss wants them back. I only have about 10 minutes to go to the bathroom. That’s why farmworkers sometimes actually wear diapers to work. Sometimes they don’t drink water because they don’t want to go to the bathroom. And even if it’s lunch time, if you only have 30 minutes for lunch, you have to walk to the area where the lunch room is, and that also takes time.
The combined effects of high temperatures and pesticide exposure are a real concern. Although there has been little research so far, we are calling for more research, as the studies we have seen so far show that high temperatures increase the absorption of pesticides in the body.
There are acute symptoms that everyone is focused on, so we need to look at more than the short-term effects. Someone fainted. Someone lost consciousness. someone died. There are long-term effects. Female farmworkers experience reproductive health effects, including lower birth weight and increased miscarriage. Many women have to work while pregnant. The statistics you hear only tell half the story.
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amy green
florida reporter
Amy Green covers the environment and climate change from Orlando, Florida. She is a mid-career journalist and author whose extensive reporting on the Everglades is featured in the book MOVING WATER, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, and on the podcast DRAINED, available wherever you get your podcasts. Amy’s work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award and the Society of Public Media Journalists Award.
