Behind the produce curtain: exploring occupational health of Connecticut migrant farmworkers in a warming climate

Climate change is increasing global temperatures and heat exposure, especially for outdoor manual laborers like farmworkers in the United States. Farmworkers have many occupational health concerns, but heat is an understudied issue among this population, particularly in northeastern states like Connecticut. This qualitative study had three aims: (1) to explore migrant farmworkers’ perceptions on heat exposure impacts; (2) to understand heat and health awareness among their healthcare providers; and (3) to understand barriers to improving migrant farmworker healthcare, work conditions, and protections against heat. We conducted focus groups with migrant farmworkers (N = 29) and individual in-depth interviews (N = 10) with their healthcare providers, as well as workplace safety officers, in Connecticut. While this study was primarily focused on heat, we uncovered additional adverse occupational health outcomes. Thematic analysis was conducted using NVivo software, yielding the following core themes: adverse health outcomes, work environment, barriers to improving work conditions, barriers to receiving healthcare, and solutions and interventions. The adverse health outcomes theme included both heat and non-heat related illnesses. The work environment theme revealed varying treatment of farmworkers by employers, including a wide range of policies on breaks from work, and that personal protective equipment was provided through the federally funded Connecticut River Valley Farmworkers’ Health Program. Barriers to improving work conditions included lack of enforcement by outside agencies, exploitative practices by growers, lack of knowledge of the minimal existing work protections, and the fear to exercise them. Barriers to receiving healthcare included reluctance to take time off, inability to pay, and overwhelmed federally qualified health centers. Finally, suggested solutions and interventions consisted of farmworker education on heat-related illnesses, expansion of healthcare access, and proactive protective measures. Farmworkers represent a socially vulnerable population, and future work should further consider their environmental exposures, beyond heat, particularly in geographic regions where their occupational health has not been well-studied.