Farm health and safety isn't just a compliance checkbox — it shapes livelihoods, families, and the future of agricultural businesses. This webinar brought together three perspectives on the complexities of farm and farmworker health and safety, examining how these issues ripple outward to affect productivity, product quality, and farm profitability.
Alexandra Hill – Tracing the Ripple: Downstream Effects of Farmworker & Farmer Health and Safety
Alexandra Hill presented a framework for understanding the factors that shape farmer and farmworker health and safety, including individual characteristics, workplace safety culture, training, healthcare access, government policies, and environmental conditions. She highlighted how extreme heat, wildfire smoke, and heavy rainfall can create additional challenges for agricultural workers and farmers, particularly when environmental conditions also threaten crops. These risks can affect workers and their families through lost wages, medical expenses, and household hardship, while also contributing to lower farm productivity, higher operating costs, worker turnover, and potential farm closures.
Hill shared research examining the effects of air pollution and wildfire smoke on agricultural workers in California. In strawberry harvesting operations, an increase of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of fine particulate matter was associated with a 4.1% decrease in worker productivity, reducing hourly earnings for workers paid by the amount they harvested. Because fields still needed to be harvested, workers often worked longer, increasing their exposure. Her research also found that days with heavy wildfire smoke were associated with 7% higher workers’ compensation claim rates in California agriculture. Hill emphasized that farmworkers and farmers have relatively low rates of health insurance coverage, and that the need for off-farm employment to obtain insurance can reduce the time farmers spend operating their businesses. These findings illustrate how health and safety challenges can affect workers, farm operations, and the broader food system.
Rebecca Som Castellano, Boise State University – Farmworkers and Pesticides: Exposure, Beliefs, and Practices
Rebecca Som Castellano presented research on farmworkers’ experiences with pesticide exposure in Idaho’s Treasure Valley, focusing on perceived risks, perceived control, and protective behaviors. Drawing on surveys and interviews with farmworkers, her research found that 60% of participants believed pesticides harmed their health, with women more likely than men to express concern. Workers described worries about both immediate pesticide poisoning and long-term health effects, including cancer. Many also reported limited control over their exposure, with experiences shaped by workplace hierarchies, such as gender, years of experience, language, and access to information and training. Among pesticide applicators in the study, four of twelve reported not receiving applicator training.
Som Castellano found clear gender differences in protective behaviors, with women more likely to take precautions such as wearing protective equipment. She connected these differences to gender roles and family responsibilities, including men’s perceived pressure to continue working and provide for their families. Her recommendations included improving pesticide safety training, particularly through in-person instruction; providing appropriate, properly fitting protective equipment; improving pesticide safety labels and communication about products; and expanding information about pesticide applications on and near fields where workers live and work. She emphasized that better communication and training can help increase farmworkers’ ability to protect themselves from pesticide exposure.
Florence Becot – How the Social and Economic Needs of Farm Households Shape Safety, Wellbeing, and the Farm Business: The Case of Childcare
Florence Becot examined how the social and economic needs of farm families influence farm safety, well-being, and business development, focusing on childcare. She explained that agricultural policies and programs often prioritize farm business needs, such as access to land, capital, knowledge, and markets, while paying less attention to the needs of the people who operate farms. Because farm businesses and households are closely connected through shared money, time, and energy, challenges affecting farm families can also affect farm operations. Drawing on a mixed-methods project that included interviews with key informants, focus groups and a photovoice activity with farm women, and a survey of 860 farm households across 47 states, Becot highlighted the prevalence of childcare challenges. Three-quarters of respondents in a 2023 study reported childcare challenges, and 86% said they cared for children at the farm worksite because they lacked other childcare options.
Becot explained that childcare challenges can affect farm safety, household well-being, and business decisions. Although farm safety experts have long recommended keeping children away from farm work areas, parents may bring children to worksites when other options are unavailable. The demands of childcare also lead families to adjust their work and business activities: among respondents who had made changes following the arrival of children, about half had reduced resources allocated to the farm business, while fewer than half had reduced or stopped off-farm employment. Additionally, 88% of respondents reported that someone in the household had experienced increased stress since children arrived. Becot emphasized that farm families need affordable health insurance and a range of childcare options that reflect the realities of agricultural work. She also highlighted the importance of involving the USDA and farm organizations in national childcare policy discussions to better represent farm families’ needs.
This program is supported in part by the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.