Farmers are known for working in any and all types of weather conditions. But as temperatures continue to heat up, this can quickly become dangerous–even deadly. Between 2011 and 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that each year saw an average of 43 farm workers lose their lives due to environmental heat. In 2023, that number was 55. For farmers laboring in extreme heat, keeping yourselves and others safe is both a priority and a growing challenge.
In Hot Potato: Heat Safety Where You Work, we hear from farmers and agricultural service providers from across the country as they share their tips, practices, and policies related to extreme heat–from formal ways to institutionalize a culture of safety to the many informal things we can do as individuals.
For more information, check out Not Our Farm’s Farming in Extreme Heat Resource Page for SOPs, protocols, and templates provided from farmers around the country.
About Not Our Farm:
Not Our Farm (NOF) is a non-profit farmworker storytelling project that strives to celebrate and share the stories of non-owning workers on farms. We aim to increase visibility around the challenges and abuses that happen on farms, regardless of the size, location, or reputation. NOF is building power among farmworkers by cultivating a community in which farmworkers share their stories and skills, create resources, and form relationships with each other.