The sun beat down with unrelenting rays of warm light. Save for a few welcome gusts of wind, humidity hung heavy in the afternoon air at the Field & Fork Farm one day earlier this month.
It was the kind of afternoon when five minutes outside felt like 15, and sweat stuck to your clothes like a second skin.
At 1 p.m. with the thermometer reading 90 degrees Fahrenheit, Noah Long walked past towering banana plants to rows of seemingly uncultivated land. He arrived at the 鈥淚rrigation Station鈥� and turned the faucet. Bursts of water sprung through the sprinklers, providing much-needed hydration for the cover crops planted to protect the soil during the summer.
As farm manager of the University of Florida鈥檚 Field & Fork Farm and Gardens program, he鈥檚 subject to intense amounts of heat daily in the summer. But even for him, those afternoons can be too hot to handle.
鈥淚n Gainesville, there鈥檚 not a lot of wind, so the humidity just stagnates and it makes it feel hotter,鈥� Long said. 鈥淵ou won鈥檛 be efficient when it鈥檚 too hot. Your brain isn鈥檛 working.鈥�
According to the , this year will rank among the five warmest years in history and has a 61% chance of being the hottest in recorded history.
Though the scorching rays of sunlight aren鈥檛 anything unusual to the Sunshine State, certain populations, such as bear the brunt of increasingly hotter summers.
In April, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law, preventing local governments from requiring heat protection for outdoor workers, such as water breaks, shade and other cooling measures.
With no previous state or federal protective heat standard in place, outdoor workers and community organizations across the country expressed concerns for workers鈥� health.
This summer has been particularly warm already. In , Gainesville鈥檚 temperature averaged 74 degrees Fahrenheit. , it averaged 77 degrees Fahrenheit.
Additionally, summertime rains have been sparse this year 鈥� saw a total of 3.57 inches of rain while rainfall in totalled 2.86 inches.
Long attributed the drier climate and hotter temperature he notices on the farm to climate change.
鈥淭his year has been brutal,鈥� Long said. 鈥淚f you see native plants wilting in Florida in the summer, that鈥檚 not good.鈥�
According to Paul Monaghan, an associate professor at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences who studies the impacts of heat, farmworkers face different risks depending on the type of farm and location.
鈥淚n Florida, nearly everything we produce here depends on labor for production, especially for harvesting,鈥� Monaghan said. 鈥淎nd with that comes a lot of risks.鈥�
Monaghan said growers he works with are concerned about HB433 and provide their workers with water, Gatorade and encouragement to prevent worker fallout from the heat. But with no governmental incentive or heat protective standard in the first place, the law鈥檚 impact on farms across Florida is hard to estimate.
鈥淭here鈥檚 just not this regulatory pressure for [farms] to change how they do work,鈥� Monaghan said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how it makes anything different.鈥�
In smaller farms with heat protection provisions, such as the Field & Fork Farm, the effects of heat can be minimized. But it鈥檚 a different story for other farmworkers, mostly immigrants from South and Central America with little to no formal education or English-speaking skills.
Dominique O鈥機onnor is the climate justice organizer for the Farmworker Association of Florida, a nonprofit organization raising awareness and advocating for farmworkers鈥� rights. The Earth鈥檚 hotter temperatures and increasingly erratic weather patterns put extra pressure on farmers, she said.
According to the , farmworkers in the U.S. are 20 times more likely to die from heat-related illness than private industry and non-federal government workers. Heat-related deaths are also in Florida and nationwide due to the difficulty of measuring heat鈥檚 effect on the body.
鈥淲hen you experience heat, you might get dizzy and you can become injured,鈥� O鈥機onnor said. 鈥淪ay you鈥檙e a construction worker or roofer. You could fall off of a roof, so those deaths are often not reported as heat-related deaths.鈥�
Ernesto Ruiz is the research coordinator for the farmworker association. His research focuses on the sociological and cultural risk factors that put people at greater risk for heat stress and pesticide exposure.
The association participated in a study monitoring farmworkers鈥� physiology while working outside. It found four out of five farmworkers had core body temperatures exceeding 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, the minimum fever temperature.
Improper workplace provisions exacerbate the effects of excessive heat.
鈥淸Farmworkers] themselves tell us, 鈥榃e forgo drinking water because if I drink water, then I鈥檒l have to sometimes walk 15 minutes to reach our bathrooms,鈥欌�� Ruiz said. 鈥淲hich is illegal because the bathrooms have to be within a quarter of a mile at the longest.鈥�
Farmworkers are also at an increased risk of acute kidney injury due to dehydration.
鈥淥nce you have one acute kidney injury, you鈥檙e at greater risk for developing subsequent acute kidney injuries and then you鈥檙e at really high risk for developing chronic kidney disease,鈥� Ruiz said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not uncommon to see 40-year-olds on dialysis.鈥�
On top of the health risks posed by high temperatures, farmworkers also deal with the effects of pesticide exposure, which can affect the nervous system, irritate the skin or eyes and in some cases lead to cancer.
In 2020 the Florida Legislature unanimously passed the , mandating heat protection measures for student-athletes. Ruiz brought into question why outdoor workers can鈥檛 have the same required protections.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the exact same thing, heat risk and protective measures which are really simple,鈥� Ruiz said. 鈥淲ithout a doubt [legislators] understand it, they just don鈥檛 care about mostly Hispanic and Haitian people.鈥�
Bobby Mermer, the coordinator of Alachua County Labor Coalition, said there were efforts to campaign for a county ordinance requiring protections for workers, but they have yet to come to fruition.
Mermer said the best thing for outdoor workers to do is talk to one another about unionizing and standing up for their rights.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to have a law that protects you, but you don鈥檛 need a law to protect you,鈥� Mermer said. 鈥淚f you stand hand in hand, side by side with your co-workers and move as one, you can achieve anything.鈥�
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(Bonny Matejowsky/WUFT News)
Copyright 2024 WUFT 89.1
