In 114 Degree Heat Farmworkers Are Still Working

ARVIN, CA – 8-9 JULY 2021: Agustin Padilla is a picker in the crew. *By 7 a.m. the heat has already gotten to be too much for Padilla. He rests in the shade in the row, wiping the sweat from his forehead.* All photos – Copyright David Bacon

A sampling of headlines from June and July 2021

“Heat wave builds across West after hottest June on record in US” Washington Post

“Records torched as western US sizzles amid major heat wave” Washington Post

“Astounding heat obliterates all-time records across the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada in June 2021” Climate Gov

“The Record Temperatures Enveloping The West Are Not Your Average Heat Wave” NPR

ARVIN, CA – 8-9 JULY 2021: Farmworkers harvest watermelons early in the morning in a field near Arvin, in the San Joaquin Valley, in a crew of Mexican immigrants. The temperature at the time, about 8 in the morning, was over 95 degrees, and would reach over 110 in the afternoon. Three men cut watermelons from the vines, in advance of other workers who lift them and toss them to the trailer. Members of this cutting crew are Arturo Cardona, Luis Artiga and Antonio Torrez. All photos – Copyright David Bacon

In a field near Arvin, at the southern end of California’s San Joaquin Valley, dozens of workers arrive at 5:30 in the morning. It’s already over 80 degrees, and by midafternoon the temperature will top 114 degrees, according to my iPhone.

Is this heat normal? The southern San Joaquin is a desert like pan between the high Sierras and the Pacific Coast ranges, whose rivers have been diverted into giant irrigation projects. High temperatures are the norm. In 1933 the thermometer reached 116 degrees on July 27. The high this past July was 112.

In the summer, cars line the valley’s rural roads and highways, next to field after field. Even before daybreak, people stream from their vehicles into the rows and vines. By starting early, farmworkers can get seven or eight hours in before the heat reaches its peak. Most head home then, but some continue on, despite the temperature.

ARVIN, CA – 8-9 JULY 2021: In a nearby field, another group of farmworkers began harvesting watermelons as soon as there was enough light to see. The first people at work in this field are the cutters, who go down the rows looking for ripe melons. When they find one, they cut the vine and lift it above the leaves. Arturo Cardona says he’s been doing this job for 22 years.. All photos – Copyright David Bacon

Farmworkers in the San Joaquin Valley have no choice but to treat the heat in a matter-of-fact way – laboring through the summer means survival in the rest of the year. Summer is the season with the most demand for field labor, so people get in whatever hours they can, hopefully saving enough money to weather the months when work is scarce.

ARVIN, CA – 8-9 JULY 2021: Juan Hernandez picks up a watermelon as Jose Chavez gets ready to catch it. Meanwhile Martin Mendoza tosses two melons to Jose Moreno on the trailer. Watermelon crews get paid as a group, $150 for each trailer. They divide the money evenly, which works out to about $20 per person for each trailer. They can load seven to eight trailers before it gets too hot to do this heavy work. All photos – Copyright David Bacon

It’s easy to pick up a bag of delicate small bell peppers in the supermarket, or lift a heavy watermelon out of the bin, without thinking about what it must have been like to get them from field to city in this summer’s heat. But in California, workers used to die from it.

In 2005, after four workers died from heat exposure, California began requiring growers to provide adequate water, shade, and rest breaks. But in 2008, 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez died from working in the grape harvest in 95-degree heat. That led to stricter standards and more enforcement. Nevertheless, at least 14 California farmworkers died of heat-related illness between 2005 and 2015.

A recent report by Vermont Law School’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, “Essentially Unprotected,” points out that only California, Minnesota, Washington and, most recently, Oregon have any requirements mandating heat protection for farmworkers. There is no federal heat standard, although unions have fought for one.

ARVIN, CA – 8-9 JULY 2021: *When Agustin Padilla fills his bucket, he takes it to the bin. After emptying it, he hands his ticket to the checker, who punches it to give him credit for the bonus.*All photos – Copyright David Bacon

ARVIN, CA – 8-9 JULY 2021: *As the sun rises over the Tehachapi Mountains to the east, a farmworker carries his bucket down the row to the place where he’ll start picking peppers*. All photos – Copyright David Bacon

ARVIN, CA – 8-9 JULY 2021: Alicia Canseco fills up her bucket with the sweet ornamental bell peppers found in multicolored variety bags in the supermarket. She gets an hourly wage of $14. The company pays a bonus of 50 cents for every bucket, and she estimates that she’ll be able to pick 50 buckets that day before it gets so hot she’ll have to go home. All photos – Copyright David Bacon

An article this year in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine warned, “Immigrant farmworkers will often suffer through [heat-related illness] rather than report it as they do not want to be fired for being perceived as a bad worker, lose income, or let down coworkers, especially if they are being paid by piece rate rather than by time.”

Yet, despite the heat, the immigrant workers in these photographs were out in the fields, laboring to provide the food for Los Angeles, San Francisco and the rest of this country’s cities, with their sweat earning the money their own families need to live.

…

This article and these photos first ran in Capital & Main.