EPA Celebrates National Farmworker Awareness Week by Highlighting Pesticide Safety Education Projects
Released on March 27, 2024
This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is celebrating National Farmworker Awareness Week to recognize the millions of farmworkers that help grow and harvest the food that feeds our country.
The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to protecting farmworkers, because they and their families are at high risk for pesticide exposure due to their work in and around areas where pesticides are used. EPA carries out this mission by supporting initiatives that provide pesticide safety training and education to farmworkers and their families. The following are examples of these initiatives:
- Since 1995, EPA has partnered with the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs to run the National Farmworker Training Program, which provides health and safety training to agricultural workers in over 35 states
- The work done through the Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative (PERC), an EPA-funded cooperative agreement with the University of California Davis in partnership with Oregon State University, promotes pesticide safety for people who work with or spend time around pesticides, including pesticide handlers, migrant and seasonal farmworkers, their families, and their communities. PERC funds six agricultural community-based projects in five states and will select up to six additional projects to fund by August 2024. These projects are designed for each agricultural community and consider the language and cultural background of each community.
- Under the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2022 (PRIA 5), up to $7.5 million will fund a National Farmworker Training and Education Program, which will allow EPA to expand its training opportunities and form new partnerships. EPA is currently seeking information on how to meaningfully involve farmworker communities in grant agreements and successful outreach strategies./li>
- Up to $2.5 million of PRIA 5 funding is set aside for training healthcare providers to recognize and treat pesticide-related injuries, providing additional protections for farmworkers and others at high risk of exposure to pesticides. This future EPA-funded cooperative agreement will support the establishment of a new national training program for healthcare providers to improve the recognition, prevention, treatment, management, and reporting of pesticide-related illnesses. The program seeks to incorporate elements of environmental justice into its training materials, ensuring the program is culturally responsive and has both national reach and local applicability.
EPA aims to provide pesticide safety and training information that is easily understood and culturally appropriate. These initiatives to improve and expand on pesticide safety training and education will allow farmworkers to receive the information they need to protect themselves and their families.
To learn more about EPA’s efforts to protect farmworkers, visit EPA’s Occupational Pesticide Safety and Health homepage.