Central Coast farm workers impacted by wildfire smoke
Like other farm workers across California, the people harvesting strawberries in Royal Oaks are pushing through the smoke.
Javier Zamora, a grower with JSM Organics, says “it is hard enough to do it when it is a clear, windy, and beautiful day. Now, think if it is a little smoky and you can’t really breathe properly. That makes it more difficult.”
Salinas native and farmer worker Alan Romero tells KION he’s been feeling the impact on the job.
“It is pretty smoky out here. You can hardly breathe. Some people have headaches or allergies,” Romero said.
The job requires long hour outdoors, unable to hide from toxic air drifting down from the deadly Camp Fire in Butte County.
Zamora says they have let workers go home when conditions are too brutal and someone says they’re feeling affected.
“Some of them have decided to go home during the afternoon hours when it gets a little hot. We’ve been able to accommodate that because we want to make sure they’re comfortable,” Zamora says.
The State of California has rules in place to make sure these protections exist, specifically for farm workers dealing with wildfire smoke.
Included are things like providing enclosed structures or vehicles with filtered air, reducing the amount of work hours, and providing proper equipment – like masks.
Lauro Barajas, the Regional Director of the Salinas office for United Farm Workers, says the biggest thing is comunication. The workers need to say something when they feel their health being hit.
“The farm workers need to assess the situation, and whenever they feel their health is threatened, they have to communicate that and take care of themselves.”
Barajas says he doesn’t know of any local cases where Ag companies are ignoring their workers’ health, relating to wildfire smoke.
The smoke is also impacting the harvesting process for JSM Organics. With workers leaving early, and the smoke causing people to lose energy, Zamora says they haven’t been as efficient.
“Several more trips to the retail stores where we sell our crops, because we just weren’t’t able to harvest it in one shot like we normally do.”
