Our Five Seasons: Farmworker's Warning on Climate Change

From the Fields, Sounding the Alarm of Climate Change 

Our Five Seasons offers powerful, first-hand accounts of what is happening to our food system in the face of climate change. Drawing from the lived knowledge of farmworkers—those on the front lines of our changing environment—this book reveals the dramatic and subtle changes that are impacting U.S. agriculture and the reality of what it is like to live and work under these conditions. 

While the challenges facing our food system may seem distant from our everyday lives, in truth, the dangers that threaten farmworker lives and wellbeing impact all of us. The struggles with Cold, Heat, Storms, Fires, and Pesticides that farmworkers face are not just consequences of global warming but of a system that is becoming increasingly unstable, unsafe, and unhealthy. Through powerful storytelling and first-hand accounts, Our Five Seasons gives voice to those who have been ignored and relates the biggest threats to U.S. agriculture in farmworkers’ own words. It shares wisdom shaped by heatwaves, floods, fires, and pesticide drift —and by the deep connection farmworkers have to the land they work. You’ll hear from seasoned pickers, irrigators, and organizers who are sounding the alarm on our food system from the fields.

Learn about:

• the generations of knowledge and experience that farmworkers bring to their labor;
• the dangers and hardships they face at home and in the workplace;
• workers’ innovation and adaptation to address climate threats;
• their warnings for consumers further down the food system;
• and much more. . .

From the Author:

From my conversations with farmworkers across the U.S., it became clear that climate change is radically changing the conditions of agriculture and can no longer be understood in traditional terms. Our Five Seasons shifts our perceptions from winter, spring, summer, and fall to highlight the seasons that have the greatest impact on farmworker lives and our food supply. In this way, Cold, Heat, Storms, Fires, and Pesticides have become central actors in farmworker lives and labor, redefining our modern food system, and impacting all of us through the food we eat.

Introduction Excerpt:

I am very concerned about the state of our food system. I fear the evident declines in food quality, increased artificiality, the deterioration of the land and natural resources and I feel its effects on my body and paycheck. Therefore, my hope is that we are attempting to tackle the seriousness and urgency of this problem with every available resource. To start, it seems logical that we must first turn to those most experienced with the problem to better understand it and work toward a solution. However, in my years as a student and scholar in this space, I have learned that those with the most experience, knowledge, and skills to address the problem and those that we consider to be experts are often not the same people. In the case of our food, those with the most experience and understanding are not the scientists, policy makers, growers, or ranchers but farmworkers. The people who spend their lives working in the fields and braving the changing conditions alongside the crops we eventually eat. Why wouldn’t we consider farmworker perspectives and knowledge to be the most valuable asset in addressing the climate crisis as it pertains to our agricultural system when it is their lives and labor that are most intimately intertwined with this problem? 

Climate Context Excerpt:

Heat represents one of the most deadly work hazards for farmworkers. As the frequency and duration of extreme temperatures increases, farmworker exposure to extreme heat increases putting their health and wellbeing at risk. On average, farmworkers are 20-35 times more likely to die of heat related causes compared to workers in other industries. Additionally, lower quality crops due to climate often means that workers must work harder and faster in more dangerous conditions in order to meet their quotas, putting them at risk of other injuries. Increasing temperatures have also resulted in reduced hours of work or shifting work schedules that require farmworkers to begin work earlier to avoid hotter parts of the day. Both California and Washington have heat illness prevention standards that require that outdoor workers be provided with water, shade, cool-down breaks, and other protective measures to prevent heat-related illness and death. No such regulations or protections exist for outdoor workers in Florida or at the national level.

COLD - Xochitl: When I arrive and start working, I have to wear double gloves because I’m allergic to bees. However, the bees were practically dead, still asleep on the flowers. The bees cling to the flowers. Since the pears need to be thinned while they’re still in bloom, even by 9 or 10 in the morning, the bees haven’t woken up yet because it’s still too cold. They remain asleep due to the cold. This should be the time when it’s warmer, but with the prolonged winter, it’s becoming much more complicated. 

HEAT - Rosa: They are told that there will be extreme temperatures, and we need you here, but that is optional. If you want to leave, that's fine. But what happens when they decide to leave because of their health or because they feel sick? Well, the supervisor and the mayordomo take into account who is going to respond to these severe climates, and whoever does not answer is not called back. It is very sad because whoever is working there is there out of necessity.

STORMS - Maria: You start to get scared because people panic a lot. You're not even prepared—sometimes you need things, and you go to the store, only to find that there's no water, no food, nothing. Or the schools have already closed because they're full, and you have to find another place to stay. And if you live in a trailer, you have to leave because the wind is coming in really strong, and it’s going to blow everything away. You have to leave, and you try to find a friend who has a concrete-block house to take shelter in because you're safer there than in a trailer. When they say it's a Category this or that—a Category 2, Category 3 storm—and they tell you to evacuate... where do you go?  

FIRES - Ramona: Some days we did not go to work. When we went to work, we still looked at the smoke, and it affected us. It affected us; it made our eyes water. But, after a few days had passed, they wanted us to go to work. We needed to take out the product where I was working. So during this time, the fire did affect us. The smoke spread everywhere, and it did affect one's eyes. It caused many people to cough. Yes, it did affect us at that time, with the fires and the surrounding smoke.  

PESTICIDES - Romelia: Where I work, the tomato grows slowly because of the cold, because there is no heat, because the tomato grows faster when there is heat, but right now, because it is cold, the tomato grows slowly. But what do they do? They spray the tomato so that the tomato will grow faster and be ready to pick. The tomatoes are not big, they are small, but they are ready for us to put in the buckets. It is by force [that the tomato grows].