Abstract
Approximately 75% of farmworkers in the United States are Latino migrants, and about 50% of hired farmworkers do not have authorization to work in the United States. Farmworkers face numerous chemical, physical, and biological threats to their health. The adverse effects of these hazards may be amplified among Latino migrant farmworkers, who are concurrently exposed to various psychosocial stressors. Factors such as documentation status, potential lack of authorization to work in the United States, and language and cultural barriers may also prevent Latino migrants from accessing federal aid, legal assistance, and health programs. These environmental, occupational, and social hazards may further exacerbate existing health disparities among US Latinos. This population is also likely to be disproportionately impacted by emerging threats, including climate change and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Latino migrant farmworkers are essential to agriculture in the United States, and actions are needed to protect this vulnerable population.
Highlights
Latino migrants represent a large proportion of farmworkers in the United States
In the most recent survey (2015–2016) of more than 5,000 hired crop workers surveyed from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) [49], 83% were Hispanic and nearly 70% were born in Mexico (Table 1)
AData obtained from the National Agricultural Workers Survey research report [49] for 2015–2016 (n = 5,342 hired crop workers surveyed). bSpecific ethnicity categories correspond to the 83% of participants who reported being Hispanic. cSpecific employment eligibility categories correspond to the 51% of participants who reported having work authorizations. dData obtained from US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, 2018 [49]. eData are specific to hired farmworkers who were farm laborers, graders, and sorters
Summary
Federico Castillo,1 Ana M. Mora,2,3 Georgia L. Kayser,4 Jennifer Vanos,5 Carly Hyland,2 Audrey R. Yang,4 and Brenda Eskenazi2 The Annual Review of Public Health is online at publhealth.annualreviews.org https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth012420-105014
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