Nutrition Policy Institute partners with UC researchers to identify promising practices to support the health of California agriculture workers

Nutrition Policy Institute researcher, Ron Strochlic, received funding to partner with researchers from the University of California (UC) to identify promising practices to support the health of California agriculture workers. Strochlic, a longtime researcher of California agriculture worker health issues and former executive director of the California Institute for Rural Studies, will be conducting interviews with growers and farm labor contractors, as well as stakeholders representing different sectors–farm labor advocates, farmworker-serving nonprofits, grower organizations and health care providers–on agricultural worker health. The goal of the interviews is to identify promising practices for increasing access to and utilization of health care services among agricultural workers and their family members, as well as access to wellness services, including nutrition and physical activity. Strochlic will be working with Christy Getz, UC Berkeley Cooperative Extension Specialist in Agriculture and Food Systems, to interview stakeholders. The interviews are part of a larger project, known as the Farmworker Health Study, led by the UC Merced Community and Labor Center. Findings will be shared with the California Department of Public Health with recommendations for improving farmworker health. The two-year project, funded by UC Merced, started in March 2020. Additional project collaborators include Paul Brown, Ed Flores, and Anna Padilla of UC Merced, and Brenda Eskenazi of UC Berkeley.