A wholesome home-cooked meal is a central part of many families’ holiday season, mine included. Coming home to Southern California from college for the holidays, I think of all those warm meals waiting for me: eggplant casseroles, stuffed grape leaves, and my personal favorite, okra stew. Blended with the ingredients are happiness, community and comfort. 

But I know this still doesn’t tell the full story of how that food got to our table.

Growing up in California, I was always peripherally aware of farmworkers. As the largest agricultural state in the nation, seeing farmworkers planting and harvesting was part of my childhood landscape. Even now when I see “Grown in California” stickers on fruits and vegetables in the grocery store, I feel a sense of pride. But I recognize now that I held a romanticized view of what farm work was like, a view that has been chipped away as I learn about food systems in college, thousands of miles away from where I grew up. 

In keeping fresh fruits and vegetables stocked on store shelves, ensuring that people like me and my family have an array of meals at home for our holiday meals, farmworkers risk their health season after season, year after year. Their exposure to heat, which is steadily increasing due to our over reliance on fossil fuels, puts them at the center of a unique and devastating public health threat. 

Exposure to heat isn’t just an inconvenience. Our bodies are not made to live in extreme heat. When they do–like in a long 10-plus-hour shift harvesting grapes in the California heat– our bodies shut down, often in ways we don’t see right away. Heat places stress on our hearts and lungs, creating long term damage even if we feel fine in the short term. Both morbidity and mortality increase during periods of prolonged heat exposure and if you have any pre-existing health condition, heat is likely to make it worse and even become fatal. Like for Asuncion Valdivia, a farm worker and father who died a preventable death after working 10 hours picking grapes in 105-F-degree heat.

In Kern County, California, one of the epicenters of my state’s agriculture production, ambulances during the summer and fall harvest are a regular sight. This is actually something I learned from my brother, formerly a physician in Kern County, over a holiday meal. In fact, agricultural counties are leading the state in heat-related ER visits. 

With climate change increasing temperatures worldwide, these numbers are only going to get worse.

Farmworkers can face the harmful consequences of heat around the clock, not just during work hours. For example, in Washington state, it is legal to house farm workers in tents, meaning that these workers get no respite from the heat even during time off. This past summer’s heat wave affecting the Pacific Northwest led to the death of another farm worker who was found unresponsive in the field after the end of his shift.

This is why farmworkers and labor protection advocates are partnering with public health and climate activists to support regulations protecting workers from heat. Currently, California is in the minority of states who provide any protections to farmworkers, mandating employers to provide workers with shade, downtime and water. Federal workers protection standards are being discussed in Congress to extend such protections nationwide, with the Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act. The Valdivia Act for instance has a broad coalition of support, with groups like the United Farm Workers Foundation, American Public Health Association, Sierra Club and National Resources Defense Council signing off on the bill.

The executive branch is slowly getting on board too. Following the extreme heat waves of the summer, the Biden administration announced in September that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) would establish federal standards to protect workers from heat. The development of these standards is also supported by a broad coalition of governmental agencies like the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

This push for federal protection comes at a crucial time. Some states, like Texas, are close to passing bills that would take away workers’ protections, like removing the requirement for employers to provide workers with even the absolute bare minimum of protection: a 10 minute water break every four hours. 

Of course, no one legislative action offers a complete solution. Other intertwining problems to address would include: enforcement of workplace standards, explicit protections for undocumented immigrants who may fear reporting poor working conditions, and fair compensation of labor that does not force farmworkers to weigh the need to make a living against risks to their health. But an expansion of federal policy is necessary and a step in the right direction. 

When I go back to Southern California for winter break, I’ll still enjoy my meal of eggplant casseroles, stuffed grape leaves, and okra stew, but I’ll also be thinking about the farmworkers who risk their lives to make that meal possible. 

Yes, we are all affected by climate change. Yes, increased temperatures are a health risk for us all. But some like farmworkers experience these risks disproportionately.  And beyond my thoughts and prayers? My congressional representatives will receive a call in support of the Valdivia Act.