Ag workers exempted from COVID-19 shelter in place mandate, advocates fear for health

Agricultural workers perform an essential service and will be exempted from Tuesday's shelter in place mandate, but farmworker advocates fear the protections in place are not strong enough to protect field laborers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Growers and their advocates, however, say those fears are overblown. 

Monterey County health officials announced they will join surrounding counties and order residents to shelter in place, leaving the home only to get food, medical supplies, exercise or walk pets, so long as residents do not congregate and maintain six feet of distance from others.

This followed the announcement that there are two confirmed cases of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, in Monterey County.

"Without these farmworkers, food and crops would not be harvested and food would not come to grocery stores," said Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo. "I hope Americans realize how critical these farmworkers are during these trying times."

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Farm industry groups and Monterey County Ag officials say the Ag industry already was taking many precautions to keep food clean and workers healthy before the coronavirus swept the globe.

More than 193,000 cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed, and more than 7,000 deaths have been tied to the outbreak.

The order issued in Monterey County is similar to ones issued Tuesday by six San Francisco Bay area counties, limiting activity, travel and business function to the most essential needs.

It does not affect essential government services, such as services to protect the health, safety and welfare of communities, the order read. It also makes provision for our agricultural community and fieldworkers who keep food in supermarkets and on the table, and provide other products for personal consumption.

"Farming, ranching and livestock businesses which provide food are exempt from the order," stated county officials in a Tuesday press release. "Those whose jobs include food production such as planting, harvesting, processing, packing and transporting may go to work but as much as possible comply with social distancing practices."

While ag workers themselves are not directly affected by the shelter in place order, businesses and industry related to agriculture could be, said Henry Gonzalez, ag commissioner for Monterey County. 

Restaurants that have closed for the order's duration won't be purchasing food, he said. Other businesses may be awaiting guidance from the county as to whether the exemption applies to them, he said. 

His office remains open but has already canceled large meetings and is pushing some work back, although inspections are still taking place. 

"We perform critical activity in regards to ag, and inspect shipments to certify them so that they can be shipped to wherever in the country, wherever in the world," he said.

The United Farm Workers Foundation worries that farmhands are more vulnerable because they can't self-isolate for their jobs and have a history of being discriminated against. 

"Across the U.S., we are seeing companies urging employees to work from home but unfortunately the farmworkers that harvest our food don't have that option," said Leydy Rangel, a communications specialist for the UFW. "There's a long history of farmworkers being excluded from basic rights."

Rangel referenced the Fair Labor Standards Act passed in 1932, which exempted domestic workers and farmworkers who, Rangel said, at the time were mostly black people. Now the majority of farmworkers are Hispanic or Latino, and that exclusion still exists today, she said.

"It's definitely concerning to the UFW Foundation that while most consumers are in need of food, right, that we're not paying attention to the workers that are making that possible for us as consumers," said Rangel. "The UFW conducted a poll on their Facebook page they asked (their followers): 'Have you been provided any information by your employer about the virus?' More than 90% (of respondents) said they hadn't received any information about taking preventative measures against the virus in the workplace."

The Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, however, says farmers are taking additional steps, including "revising and increasing sanitation procedures for all field facilities," in a press release. 

Farms and processing plants also already had strict standards about handwashing, including in the fields, and disinfecting, both important steps to stop the virus, Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner Henry Gonzalez said. 

Social distancing, in which people keep at least six feet between them, is also not difficult in the fields, he said. 

"The workers generally don’t work in congregations. They do work in crews, for example, harvesting strawberries," he said. "But even then they’re able to maintain the social distancing."