Research to help farmworkers deal with climate change

Farmworker communities face increasingly dire threats linked to climate change. From extreme heat, air pollution, and flood damage, to crop failures from drought and new pests, to increased exposure to pesticides, farmworkers are experiencing climate changed challenges that compound their social, political and economic vulnerabilities. This project, funded by the state of California through a UC Climate Action grant, has mapped where these multiple vectors of climate vulnerability intersect on the ground in California with a community co-designed map app called Campo-Sano. Supplementing this app with additional tools and trainings designed with and for community health promoters, we have sought to develop freely availble resources for farmworkers and their advocates across California and beyond.

Over the initial two years of the Campo-Sano project, university researchers have worked with community organizations (listed below) to hear directly about what is needed to mitigate the impacts of climate change, organizing listening sessions with farmworkers, growers and community health promoters (many of whom are also current or former farmworkers) . Together with input from students in the UCSC Global and Community Health program, we have sought to go beyond just describing the risks posed by climate change to also address what rights, remedies and retraining opportunities farmworkers can access in order to secure sustainable protections and community well-being.  It is this work that has created the resources which you can access, review and download from this website, including both the desktop version of the Campo-Sano map app and the more mobile phone version available through the QR code to the right ->

Geographic Focus Area: Pajaro, Salinas, and San Joaquin Valleys

Grant: University of California Office of the President (UCOP) Climate Action Seed Grant – Farmworker Community Health Vulnerabilities and Responses Amid Climate Change