What We Do

Farmworker Living and Working Conditions

Substandard housing, inadequate waste and garbage disposal, dietary and environmental exposures to lead, industrial pollution of air and water, and the widespread use of agricultural pesticides are a few examples of hazards that pose serious, preventable health risks to farmworker families.

Poor migrant housing conditions negatively impact the health of farmworkers and their children. Health consequences associated with substandard and crowded farmworker housing include respiratory illnesses, ear infections, diarrhea, and higher occurrences of lead poisoning. Farmworkers and their families also come into contact with pesticides in a variety of ways. Children may receive immediate direct dermal exposure from being in the fields and pesticides can drift into their yards, homes, schools and daycare centers when located near fields. Farmworker parents can also bring pesticides into the home on their tools, clothes, shoes, and skin.

Farmworker Justice has developed a curriculum and outreach materials for promotores de salud to bring environmental health education to farmworker communities. These materials aim to alert the community to practical ways in which they can reduce or eliminate their exposures to environmental health hazards, including residential pesticide exposure and lead poisoning. 

Visit our Resource Center to see our materials on these topics.