As president of the Grower Shipper Association of Central California, I talk to farmers, farming companies and farm workers about the challenges faced when protecting essential employees from COVID-19.
Hearing the needs firsthand formed the impetus for many programs established by GSA to lessen or prevent the spread of COVID-19 among the farm worker community.
But I also speak regularly with county health officials, local hospitals, health clinics, labor advocates, academics, state regulators and local community leaders about COVID-19 and its impact on farm workers.
As the harvest season ends, we have an opportunity to reflect and learn before workers return. What can we do better to enhance efforts to prevent the spread of this virus on the job and within our communities?
At GSA, we hope to see more emphasis on contact tracing and a prioritization of farm workers to receive vaccinations.
Our work to protect farm workers at the workplace as well as educate this community about prevention practices at home must continue to evolve and improve.
It is vitally important that public health officials have the resources to conduct more extensive contact tracing once a positive test is obtained so we are effectively targeting prevention strategies with a focus on where the virus is spread – work, transit to work, at home or within our communities. If not, the solution we may be enacting may not address the real problem.
While health officials are integral to effective contact tracing, employers are also required to conduct tracing to determine if a COVID-positive employee may have exposed others and where.
GSA’s quarantined housing program provides COVID-positive or exposed farm workers with daily meals and health checks to ensure they can isolate or recover in a safe and comfortable environment. And, California mandates that essential workers receive two weeks paid sick leave if they are exposed or are sickened by the virus.
Farmers and farming companies are spending significant time and monetary resources to protect workers through regulatory compliance and their own best practices. As we learn more, prevention practices in agriculture are continually improving.
Adequate testing and effective contact tracing combined with isolation alternatives through quarantined housing is the best way to yield real results and target the spread of this virus.
While GSA will work collaboratively to ensure prevention strategies are improved and ready in 2021, it is providing vaccines to essential workers that will ultimately protect our workforce and we must advocate for their prioritization.
Our work to protect farm workers at the workplace as well as educate this community about prevention practices at home must continue to evolve and improve. The 2021 harvest season will be here before we know it. We must be ready.
Chris Valadez is the president of the Salinas, Calif.-based Grower Shipper Association of Central California. E-mail him at chris@growershipper.com.
