According to a study done by the California Institute for Rural Studies, agricultural workers in Monterey County are three times more likely to contract COVID-19 than workers in other industries.
Even before COVID-19, working in agricultural fields could be hazardous for peoples’ health. Almost 9 million pounds of pesticides were sprayed in Monterey County in 2017. Some workers there spend much of their lives breathing in these toxins, many of which are meant to kill bugs and weeds. And, this has been happening for decades.
Still, scientists are only beginning to learn about pesticides' detrimental long term effects, especially for pregnant farmworkers.
In this series, we hear about a decades-long study measuring the effects of working in the fields while pregnant. And we hear about potential solutions: Major lawsuits and grassroots efforts led by community clinics in the Salinas Valley.
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I visit the bottom floor of the Alisal Health Center in East Salinas in February. It’s home to the Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program, where new…
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This summer, farmworkers in California have been working with extreme heat, wildfire smoke, and, in Monterey County, high rates of COVID-19 as they…
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In Salinas, if you make a run to the grocery store to pick up a bag of kale, you’ll probably pass rows and rows of the leafy green.There’s one store, Food…