A support group and a lab in the St. Louis area provide resources for people with the allergy to mammal products — and evidence that its effects can be reversed.
Juan Peña (seated at left) takes a break with other farmworkers in a field in southeastern Iowa on July 20, 2023. Their crew leader (standing) said summers have gotten hotter over the years. Credit: Sky Chadde, Investigate Midwest
Excessive heat warnings were issued this week across the Mississippi River basin. From Wisconsin to Louisiana, the feels-like temperature hovered between 100 and 120 degrees.
But for many, the work doesn’t stop just because it’s hot. Farmworkers are some of the most at risk from extreme temperatures, with little to no federal protection.
Our team of reporters digs into this, in the first of a two-part series out this week. It’s part of our ongoing project A Changing Basin, looking at new impacts from extreme weather.
Mónica Cordero of Investigate Midwest checked in with one of the Iowa farmworkers she interviewed for this piece “on Tuesday night, when going outside was like sticking your head in a Midwest oven.” She said he became a farmworker when he was only 10.
“I asked him what he would like people reading this story to learn about his work,” Mónica said. “He responded that many people feel comfortable working in offices rather than in the fields. But it is because of the farmworkers’ jobs that they have easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables in the supermarket aisles.”
Many farmworkers like this man are unprotected against heat-related illnesses. They are 35 times more likely to die from heat exposure than workers in other sectors, according to the National Institutes of Health. The absence of a federal heat regulation that guarantees their safety and life – when scientists have warned that global warming will continue – increases that risk.
Mónica and our team analyzed federal data to find that over a six-year period, of 121 workers who died from severe environmental heat exposure, one-fifth were employed in the agricultural sector. Read the story below and stay tuned for part two.
➤ “I've had bosses who, if they see you resting for a few minutes under a tree to recover yourself, think you're wasting your time and send you home without pay,” said a farmworker in Iowa, speaking in Spanish.
A farmworker walks past boxes of donated supplies, including insulated bags for cold water and thin long-sleeved shirts for the heat, from the Migrant Farmworkers Assistance Fund at an apple orchard just outside of Waverly, Missouri. Credit: Zach Perez, KCUR 89.3
How is extreme weather affecting you?
We invite you to share your stories for our ongoing series A Changing Basin.
How are you and your community dealing with floods and intense rainfall, extreme heat, wildfire smoke and other new hazards in the Mississippi River basin?
Let us know and please share with friends and family!
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Farmers are divided over eminent domain laws and private land crossings for a proposed web of pipelines across the Upper Midwest, designed to lower corn ethanol’s carbon footprint. From Minneapolis Star Tribune, shared with our network.
The tick’s bite can cause a red meat allergy, and it’s now the most abundant type in Kentucky. Its population is flourishing due to climate change, as Connor Giffin of the Louisville Courier Journal reports.
Teachers and astronomers in Wisconsin are adapting to a frustrating summer of wildfire smoke that’s blurring out the stars in the night sky. By Madeline Heim of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Spread the word: We’re looking for newsrooms to host 10 new Ag & Water Desk reporters
We are recruiting 10 newsrooms to host our next cohort of Ag & Water Desk reporters through Report for America. Applications are due September 18. We especially hope to add new partners in the South and in communities of color. All the details, as well as the slides and recording from our recent info session, can be found here.
