The Well-Being of U.S. Farm Workers: A Look at Health∗

T paper examines the health of farm workers in the United States. Although farm workers constitute a small fraction of the overall U.S. workforce, their health is of special concern because of greater exposure to toxic chemicals, work-related injuries, and other occupational hazards. The U.S. agricultural sector is heavily dependent on hired farm workers who constitute about 30% of the agricultural labor force (farm operators and unpaid family workers comprise the other 70%). This dependence is likely to increase with the growth in more labor-intensive farm operations such as nurseries, fruit and vegetable farms, and dairy farms, and with the growth in the proportion of farm operators and their spouses seeking off-farm work. This paper makes two distinct contributions to the literature on the health of U.S. farm workers. First, it provides a comprehensive look at farm workers’ health by using a large set of health indicators, including overall health status, chronic health conditions, and obesity. While there is a growing epidemiological literature on the health of U.S. farm workers, much of it is focused on occupational and environmental risks specific to farm work and relies on regional or local data (Arcury and Quandt; Villarejo). Kamel et al. report on an effort to examine the health effects of pesticide exposure among farm workers in selected communities. The ongoing Agricultural Health Study, begun in 1993, investigates the effects of environmental, occupational, dietary, and genetic factors on the health of licensed pesticide applicators in Iowa and North Carolina. While these studies seek to provide better estimates of the incidence of