Community-Engaged Research with Agricultural Workers in Florida: Health and Climate Change

The 45 billion dollar US agricultural industry and its two to three million person labor force are in imminent danger of severe economic loss and poor health due to climate change. Florida has the third highest Latino population in the USA and more than 100,000 agricultural workers. Florida is also one of the top five states expected to experience increasingly destructive weather fueled by climate change. Latino communities are disproportionally impacted by climate change because they tend to work in outdoor industries that expose them to extreme heat. Health implications associated with these conditions such as heat-related illness (HRI) have led Emory University to establish an over decade-long partnership with the Farmworker Association of Florida (FWAF) to conduct community-engaged research, health education, and political advocacy. Research so far has led to a better understanding of the burden of HRI and kidney dysfunction among agricultural workers and the creation of innovative strategies to mitigate this burden. FWAF and Emory plan to continue and expand their partnership to inform policy that advances environmental justice for agricultural workers exposed to rising temperatures due to climate change.