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Heat exposure of U.S. agricultural workers in a warming climate
  • Michelle Tigchelaar,
  • David Battisti
Michelle Tigchelaar
University of Washington

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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David Battisti
University of Washington
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Abstract

Heat has historically resulted in more mortality than any other severe weather-related phenomenon in the United States, with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control attributing more than six hundred deaths to extreme heat each year. Agricultural workers are particularly vulnerable to environmental heat exposure: mortality rates due to heat amongst crop workers are twenty times higher than in the general worker population. The vulnerability of this group of workers to heat is exacerbated by factors such as economic vulnerability, immigration status, language barriers, access to health care, and the absence of worker heat standards in all but three of the fifty United States. Climate change threatens to increase the risk of heat-related illness in agricultural workers, but so far there has been no nation-wide evaluation of the expected change in heat exposure in a warmer climate for this group of workers. Here, we estimate baseline and future exposure of agricultural workers in the main growing regions of the continental U.S. to extreme heat. Given the diverse health impacts of different types of heat events, we compare metrics for both single day extremes and multi-day heat waves, and calculate how these statistics will change at the county level with 2 and 4 degrees Celsius of global warming. Our findings serve as a guideline for determining regionally appropriate heat standards, and underscore the need for agencies in all agricultural states to make preparations for a warmer climate.