Every worker has covid at one US farm on eve of harvest

All of the roughly 200 employees on a produce farm in Tennessee tested positive for covid-19 this month. In New Jersey, more than 50 workers had the virus at a farm in Gloucester County, adding to nearly 60 who fell ill in neighboring Salem County. Almost 170 were reported to get the disease at a tomato and strawberry greenhouse complex in Oneida, New York.


VIRUS STRAIN: Beloved Pasadena seafood spot struggles to remain open after shutdowns


Aside from the most immediate concern -- the grave danger that farmhands face -- the outbreaks could also create labor shortages at the worst possible time. Produce crops such as berries have a short life span, with only a couple of weeks during which they can be harvested. If a farm doesn't have enough workers to collect crops in that window, they're done for the season and the fruit will rot. A spike in virus cases among workers may mean shortages of some fruits and vegetables at the grocery store, along with higher prices.

"We're watching very, very nervously -- the agricultural harvest season is only starting now," said Michael Dale, executive director of the Northwest Workers' Justice Project in Portland, Oregon, and a lawyer who has represented farm workers for 40 years. "I don't think we're ready. I don't think we're prepared."

Unlike grain crops that rely on machinery, America's fruits and vegetables are mostly picked and packed by hand, in long shifts out in the open -- a typically undesirable job in major economies. So the position typically goes to immigrants, who make up about three quarters of U.S. farm workers.



These are some of the most vulnerable populations in the U.S., subjected to tough working conditions for little pay and meager benefits. Most don't have access to adequate health care. Many don't speak English.

Without them, it would be nearly impossible to keep America's produce aisles filled. And yet, there's no one collecting national numbers on how many are falling sick.

"There is woefully inadequate surveillance of what's happening with covid-19 and farm workers," said Erik Nicholson, a national vice president for the United Farm Workers. "There is no central reporting, which is crazy because these are essential businesses."

On the Tennessee farm where workers caught the virus, only a very few showed any symptoms. After an initial worker tested positive for covid-19, all employees at Henderson Farms in Evensville were given tests out of an "abundance of caution," revealing the infection had spread among all of them. The workers are now all in isolation at the farm, where they live and work.

BACK ON THE MENU: H-E-B reduces meat purchasing limits for Houston-area stores

"We take our responsibility to protect the essential workers feeding the nation through the pandemic seriously," Henderson Farms said in a statement. "In addition to continuing our policy of providing free healthcare, we have implemented additional measures to support workers directly impacted by covid-19, including those in isolation as per the latest public health guidelines. We are working closely with public health officials in Rhea County, Tennessee, to ensure we can continue to deliver our high standard of care as we support our workers and our community through these unprecedented times."


In Canada, migrant workers often come from Jamaica, Guatemala and Mexico. They're typically housed on farms, with two or four people sharing a room, depending on if there are bunk-beds, said Colin Chapdelaine, president of BC Hot House, a greenhouse farming company that grows tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in Surrey, British Columbia.

All the houses are audited and approved by regulators with guidelines for how much kitchen and bathroom space to provide, but "covid has kind of turned that on its head," he said.

"It's a precarious situation if something happens and it flows through a greenhouse and you can't pick your crop," Chapdelaine said. "We're taking huge precautions to make sure everyone comes in suited and masked up. You have to do all the right things and still hope for the best."






"The cost will go up, and there will be a little bit less available," said Kevin Kenny, chief operating officer of Decernis, an expert in global food safety and supply chains. "You really will see some supply issues coming."


In Florida, oranges are "literally dying on the vines" as not enough migrants can get into the country to pick the crops and things like processed juice will probably cost more in the coming months, he said.

When the virus spread among America's meat workers, plants were forced to shutter as infections rates topped 50% in some facilities. Prices surged, with wholesale beef and pork more than doubling, and grocers including Kroger and Costco rationed customer purchases. Even Wendy's dropped burgers from some menus. After an executive order from Trump, plants have reopened, but worker absenteeism is restraining output. Hog and cattle slaughter rates are still down more than 10% from last year.

The produce industry could see similar problems because workers face some of the same issues. They sometimes work shoulder to shoulder. They are transported to and from job sites in crowded buses or vans. They often come from low-income families and can't afford to call in sick or are afraid of losing their jobs, so they end up showing up to work even if they have symptoms.

"A lot of people are concerned that the summer for farm workers will be like the spring for meat packers," said David Seligman, director of Towards Justice, a nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization based in Denver.

There's "a lot of worker fear because of the asymmetry of power in this industry," Seligman said. "We're hearing anecdotal reports. Gathering information about farm workers is very hard because of how scared and how isolated they are."





Nely Rodriguez is a former farm worker who is now an organizer with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Immokalee, Florida, a major tomato growing area. She said that some farms are taking steps to protect migrants, such as having buses make more trips so workers won't be as cramped and requiring them to wear masks, as well as providing more hand-washing stations and sanitizer.


But protection measures can be spotty, said Rodriguez of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. There aren't yet any farm specific covid-19 safety protocols from the federal government.

The USDA is "diligently working" with the the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration "to develop guidance that will assist farmworkers and employers during this time," the agency said in an emailed statement.

"Additionally, considering the seasonal and migratory nature of the workforce, we are working to identify housing resources that may be available to help control any spread of covid-19," the USDA said.


"If there is a bunch of farm workers here that are sick, they can essentially spread this virus to other rural communities," Rodriguez said.

Many farm workers come from indigenous communities in southern Mexico and don't speak English or Spanish as their first language, so they don't have adequate information on the pandemic in a language they can understand, said Bruce Goldstein, president of Farmworker Justice, a national advocacy group.

They typically don't have easy access to coronavirus tests, and many are undocumented so they are concerned about reporting illnesses, he said.

"They're marginalized in Mexico. They're similarly marginalized here," Goldstein said. "People like that are incredibly vulnerable to covid-19."
