he sweet, earthy scent of tomatoes hangs in the air as a crew of 44 workers speeds through rows of vines. They fill 32-pound buckets with fruit, then deliver them to co-workers waiting on the backs of flatbed trucks who dump the contents into crates to be sorted and packaged.
During an eight-hour shift, each worker hauls an average of about three tons of tomatoes. They work at this pace all winter in this small farming community in southwest Florida — and all summer on a farm in Tennessee, where temperatures can reach the 90s.
But unlike at many other farms, every worker takes a 10-minute break every two hours during the hottest part of the year. When they feel the effects of heat illness coming on, they have the right to cool down in the shade. Sunripe Certified Brands, the company that owns the farm, must provide clean water, shaded rest areas and nearby bathrooms for all of its workers.
These are the strongest set of workplace heat protections in the United States. They were not put in place by local, state or federal regulators, but by the workers who spent years organizing to push companies to adopt them.
Created in 2011 by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a nonprofit that represents farmworkers, the Fair Food Program (FFP) certifies farms that follow a strict set of workplace safety rules. In exchange, participating farms are first in line to sell their wares to [14 big produce buyers](https://fairfoodprogram.org/buyers/?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template) that include Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and McDonald’s.
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he sweet, earthy scent of tomatoes hangs in the air as a crew of 44 workers speeds through rows of vines. They fill 32-pound buckets with fruit, then deliver them to co-workers waiting on the backs of flatbed trucks who dump the contents into crates to be sorted and packaged.
During an eight-hour shift, each worker hauls an average of about three tons of tomatoes. They work at this pace all winter in this small farming community in southwest Florida — and all summer on a farm in Tennessee, where temperatures can reach the 90s.
But unlike at many other farms, every worker takes a 10-minute break every two hours during the hottest part of the year. When they feel the effects of heat illness coming on, they have the right to cool down in the shade. Sunripe Certified Brands, the company that owns the farm, must provide clean water, shaded rest areas and nearby bathrooms for all of its workers.
These are the strongest set of workplace heat protections in the United States. They were not put in place by local, state or federal regulators, but by the workers who spent years organizing to push companies to adopt them.
Created in 2011 by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a nonprofit that represents farmworkers, the Fair Food Program (FFP) certifies farms that follow a strict set of workplace safety rules. In exchange, participating farms are first in line to sell their wares to [14 big produce buyers](https://fairfoodprogram.org/buyers/?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template) that include Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and McDonald’s.
Heat stress [kills dozens of workers](https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=202104&RIN=1218-AD39&itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template) and sickens thousands more each year, according to the Labor Department, a toll that’s likely to rise as climate change makes dangerously hot days more common. Last year was the [hottest on record](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/01/09/record-hot-year-2023-global-temperatures/?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template), and forecasters are predicting that [this year will top it](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/01/02/record-heat-2024-el-nino/?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template).
But so far, efforts to protect farmworkers from heat have been limited. There are [no federal workplace heat safety rules](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/07/14/heat-workers-osha-protections/?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template), although the Labor Department is slowly working to create some. Only four states — California, Washington, Oregon and Colorado — have heat rules that apply to farmworkers.
**Read more:** [**https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2024/farmworker-heat-safety-fair-food-program/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2024/farmworker-heat-safety-fair-food-program/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)