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The Invisible Threat in Every Row
When most people think about the dangers farmworkers face, they think about heat. And they are right, heat is deadly. But there is another threat hiding in plain sight, one that is quieter, slower, and in many ways more insidious.
Pesticides.
The same chemicals that protect crops from insects and disease are absorbed daily through the skin, the lungs, and the hands of the people harvesting those crops. Farmworkers are exposed to pesticides at rates far higher than any other workforce in the country. And the consequences are devastating.
Acute pesticide poisoning can cause headaches, nausea, dizziness, seizures, and in severe cases, death. But the long-term effects are what keep health advocates up at night, increased risks of certain cancers, neurological damage, reproductive harm, and developmental issues in children who grow up in or near the fields.
The people most at risk are the people least protected. And for nearly 50 years, Beth-El has been watching this unfold, and refusing to look away.
What Protection Should Look Like, And What It Actually Looks Like
There are federal guidelines designed to protect farmworkers from pesticide exposure. The EPA’s Agricultural Worker Protection Standard requires employers to provide basic safety information, restricted entry intervals after spraying, and access to decontamination supplies.
On paper, it sounds reasonable. In practice, enforcement is inconsistent, language barriers make information inaccessible, and many farmworkers are afraid to speak up for fear of losing their jobs or their housing.
Here is what protection should look like:
- Clear notification before and after pesticide application
- Mandatory waiting periods before workers re-enter treated fields
- Proper protective equipment: gloves, masks, and clothing provided at no cost
- Training in the worker’s own language on the chemicals they are being exposed to
- Access to clean water and soap for decontamination
- The freedom to ask questions and report violations without fear of retaliation
Here is what farmworkers often actually have: none of the above.
The Children in the Fields
One of the hardest truths about pesticide exposure is what it does to the youngest and most vulnerable, the children.
Farmworker children face pesticide exposure in ways most parents cannot imagine. They play near fields that have recently been sprayed. They live in homes where pesticide residue travels in on their parents’ clothing and skin. Some accompany their parents to work because there is simply nowhere else for them to go.
Children’s bodies absorb chemicals faster than adults. Their developing nervous systems and organs are far more vulnerable to the long-term effects of exposure. Studies have linked childhood pesticide exposure to learning disabilities, developmental delays, and increased risk of childhood cancers.
For 50 years, Beth-El has seen these children. We have handed them backpacks. We have celebrated their first days of school. We have watched them grow. And we have carried the weight of knowing what they are being exposed to every single day.
What Beth-El Has Seen for 50 Years
When Beth-El opened its doors in 1976, farmworkers were already living with the consequences of pesticide exposure. They came to our services carrying more than just their faith, they carried exhaustion, illness, and a fear of speaking up in a system that was never designed to hear them.
Fifty years later, the faces have changed. The stories have not.
We have sat with farmworkers who didn’t know why they were getting headaches every afternoon. We have connected families to healthcare when symptoms that had been ignored for months finally became impossible to hide. We have watched mothers worry about their children’s health and have nowhere to turn.
Every health fair we hold, every free dental visit, every case management appointment, every farm visit on a afternoon, these are not just acts of service. They are acts of witness. We see what is happening in these fields. We have been seeing it for fifty years.
And we will keep saying so.
What Needs to Change
Awareness is the beginning, but it is not enough. Here is what farmworkers need and deserve:
Stronger enforcement of existing protections. The rules exist. They need to actually be applied, consistently, and with real consequences for violations.
Multilingual education and outreach. Safety information that only exists in English is not safety information for most farmworkers. Every warning, every guideline, every right needs to be communicated in the language of the people it is meant to protect.
Access to healthcare. Farmworkers who experience symptoms of pesticide exposure need to be able to see a doctor without fear of cost, language barriers, or immigration status. Beth-El’s free dental clinic and health fairs are one small piece of a much larger puzzle that still needs solving.
The right to speak up. No worker should have to choose between their health and their livelihood. Protections against retaliation need to be real, accessible, and enforced.
Community support that fills the gaps. When systems fail, and they do fail, organizations like Beth-El step in. But we cannot do it alone.
Fifty Years of Showing Up Anyway
Here is what we know after fifty years: the systems that are supposed to protect farmworkers are imperfect at best and broken at worst. We know that change is slow. We know that the people most affected are often the ones with the least power to demand it.
But we also know this: every time a farmworker walks through our doors, every time a family receives care, every time someone learns their rights, something shifts. Slowly. Quietly. But it shifts.
Beth-El was founded on the belief that every person, regardless of where they were born, what language they speak, or what field they work in, deserves to be cared for. That belief has not wavered in fifty summers. It will not waver now.
The fields are full of people who need more than pesticides allow them to have. They need protection. They need healthcare. They need advocates.
They need us.
Be Part of the Change
You may not be able to change policy overnight. But you can show up for the people living with the consequences of broken systems right now.
Donate to support Beth-El’s health programs, farm visits, and emergency care services. Volunteer your time. Share this story with people who need to hear it. And visit us — because seeing this work up close has a way of changing you.
Learn more and get involved at farmworkersbethel.site
With gratitude and solidarity, The Beth-El Farmworker Ministry Team
Car Credit Supports Beth-El Farmworker Ministry
For many farmworker families, meeting basic needs remains a daily challenge. Beth-El Farmworker Ministry provides vital support by offering hunger relief, education, healthcare, and spiritual growth to farmworking families and neighbors in need. Through compassion and care, Beth-El continues its mission of nourishing the mind, spirit, and body of those it serves.
Nuevo en US (www.nuevoenus.org) and Car Credit (www.carcredittampa.com) are proud to support Beth-El, an organization dedicated to assisting farmworker families. For those who are new to the country, adjusting to a new life can be challenging. Thanks to Car Credit’s commitment to Spanish-speaking communities and the support of its owner, Steve Cuculich, we work together to ensure these families receive the guidance and support they need to move forward.