The higher incidence in the western states may suggest that workers in this region are at higher risk of drift exposure; however, it may also have resulted from better case identification in California and Washington states through their higher staffed surveillance programs, extensive use of workers’ compensation reports in these states, and use of active surveillance for some large drift events in California.Nonoccupational exposure.This study found that more than half of drift-related pesticide poisoning cases resulted from nonoccupational exposures and that 61% of these nonoccupational cases were exposed to fumigants.California data suggest that residents in agriculture-intensive regions have a 69 times higher risk of pesticide poisoning from drift exposure compared with other regions.This may reflect California’s use of active surveillance for some large drift events.Children had the greatest risk among nonoccupational cases.The reasons for this are not known but may be because children have higher pesticide exposures, greater susceptibility to pesticide toxicity, or because concerned parents are more likely to seek medical attention.Recently several organizations submitted a petition to the U.S.EPA asking the agency to evaluate children’s exposure to pesticide drift and adopt interim prohibitions on the use of drift-prone pesticides near homes, schools, and parks.Contributing factors.Soil fumigation was a major cause of large drift events, accounting for the largest proportion of cases.Because of the high volatility of fumigants, specific measures are required to prevent emissions after completion of the application.Given the unique drift risks posed by fumigants, U.S.EPA regulates the drift of fumigants separately from non-fumigant pesticides.
The U.S.EPA recently adopted new safety requirements for soil fumigants, which took effect in early 2011 and include comprehensive measures designed to reduce the potential for direct fumigant exposures; reduce fumigant emissions; improve planning, training,dutch bucket for tomatoes and communications; and promote early detection and appropriate responses to possible future incidents.Requirements for buffer zones are also strengthened.For example, fumigants that generally require a > 300 foot buffer zone are prohibited within 0.25 miles of “difficult to-evacuate” sites.We found that, of the 738 fumigant-related cases with information on distance, 606 occurred > 0.25 miles from the application site, which suggests that the new buffer zone requirements, independent of other measures to increase safety, may not be sufficient to prevent drift exposure.This study also shows the need to reinforce compliance with weather-related requirements and drift monitoring activities.Moreover, applicators should be alert and careful, especially when close to non-target areas such as adjacent fields, houses, and roads.Applicator carelessness contributed to 79 events , of which 56 events involved aerial applicators.Aerial application was the most frequent application method found in drift events, accounting for 249 events.Drift hazards from aerial applications have been well documented.Applicators should use all available drift management measures and equipment to reduce drift exposure, including new validated drift reduction technologies as they become available.Limitations.This study requires cautious interpretation especially for variables with missing data on many cases.This study also has several limitations.First, our findings likely underestimate the actual magnitude of drift events and cases because case identification principally relies on passive surveillance systems.Such under reporting might have allowed the totals to be appreciably influenced by a handful of California episodes in which active case finding located relatively large numbers of affected people.Pesticide-related illnesses are under reported because of individuals not seeking medical attention , misdiagnosis, and health care provider failure to report cases to public health authorities.
Data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey suggests that the pesticide poisoning rates for agricultural workers may be an order of magnitude higher than those identified by the SENSOR-Pesticides and PISP programs.Second, the incidence of drift cases from agricultural applications may have been underestimated by using crude denominators of total population and employment estimates, which may also include those who are not at risk.On the other hand, the incidence for agricultural workers may have been overestimated if the denominator data under counted undocumented workers.Third, the data may include false-positive cases because clinical findings of pesticide poisoning are nonspecific and diagnostic tests are not available or rarely performed.Fourth, when we combined data from SENSOR-Pesticides and PISP, some duplication of cases and misclassification of variables may have occurred, although we took steps to identify and resolve discrepancies.Also, SENSOR-Pesticides and PISP may differ in case detection sensitivity because the two programs use slightly different case definitions.Lastly, contributing factor information was not available for 48% of cases, either because an in-depth investigation did not occur or insufficient details were entered into the database.We often based the retrospective coding of contributing factors on limited data, which may have produced some misclassification.Anticoagulant rodenticides are the most common baits used in agricultural and domestic areas to manage rodent pests.They are generally classified as first- or second-generation anticoagulants based on their toxicity relative to the amount of bait a rodent must eat.The first-generation anticoagulants such as chlorophacinone, diphacinone, and warfarin usually require multiple feedings over several days to be lethal.The second-generation anticoagulants, such as bromadiolone, brodifacoum, and difethialone, are more persistent in animal tissues and in many situations can be lethal from only one feeding.In California, only firstgeneration anticoagulants are registered for agricultural uses.
Almost 1 million pounds of formulated chlorophacinone and diphacinone baits are sold annually by California Agricultural Commissioners to control agricultural ground squirrels, voles, and some other rodent pests.Additional firstgeneration anticoagulant bait is sold by commercial outlets for agricultural protection and some commensal use, but use data are not readily available.A much larger quantity of second-generation anticoagulants is sold to homeowners, structural pest control operators, and others for control of commensal rodents in and around structures.All of these uses have the potential of creating primary and secondary poisoning risks to pets, domestic animals, and wildlife including birds of prey.Various predators and scavengers in California have tested positive for second-generation anticoagulants, while a much lower number of first-generation exposures have been detected.However, without information on anticoagulant use patterns in the areas where these animals were collected, we cannot paint a complete picture of the exposure risks and impacts of anticoagulant use in agricultural production areas.Yet, in the absence of such data, persons concerned about pesticide residues in wildlife often assume that anticoagulant rodenticides used in agriculture cause widespread risk to non-target wildlife, particularly predators and scavengers of rodents.This study was undertaken to help understand the extent of raptor exposure to anticoagulants, particularly in relation to anticoagulant uses for protecting agriculture.Data were utilized from raptors that were collected as part of the public health surveillance programs of the County Veterinarian and/or Departments of Environmental Health, as well as by submission from other organizations such as California Fish and Game and the United States Department of Agriculture – Wildlife Services.None of the raptors analyzed were initially suspected of having anticoagulant exposure or poisoning.The ultimate goal was to determine possible raptor exposure to first- and second-generation anticoagulants by evaluating the relationship between the use of these materials in agricultural versus urban settings and the presence/absence of residues in raptor tissues collected from each region.A second objective was to determine if wild rodents captured as part of a county Hantavirus surveillance program would show any signs of exposure to anticoagulants.
While anticoagulant residues have been found in many carnivores, few reported data exist demonstrating the occurrence of residues in rodents found in areas where anticoagulant materials are used.The data that are available originates from rodents targeted by specific baiting programs.In turn, these survivors could have some anticoagulant residue remaining in their tissues, providing a possible exposure route for raptors and carnivores.San Diego County has a robust public health surveillance program that includes testing of raptors and other birds found dead throughout the County.This provided a large number of raptors for potential analysis.Since San Diego County is fairly urban, we wanted to compare data from these birds with birds from more rural and agricultural counties.The top 5 agricultural counties with the highest quantity of total agricultural pesticide use in California in 2007 were Fresno, Kern, Tulare, San Joaquin, and Madera.Of these, Fresno, Kern, and Tulare Counties were selected because we have worked on extensive ground squirrel problems in these areas for the past 30 years.We sought to compare anticoagulant residue data from raptors collected in these counties to those from the more urban San Diego County, where we assume most rodenticides applied are used by homeowners for the control of commensal rodents.California has been faced with a shortage of farm labor in recent years , primarily attributed to a decline in the number of Mexican migrant workers coming to the United States, who compose the majority of the labor force.Compounding the decline from abroad, migration within the United States has also dropped as farm labor has undergone a demographic transition: workers are more likely to be older, female and living with children.Labor shortages appear to have especially affected support activities,blueberry grow pot such as labor contractors.For example, the Napa County vineyard industry experienced an estimated 12% shortage of laborers in 2017.The agricultural industry is responding to this labor shortage in three ways.First, growers are increasingly relying on machines to stretch worker productivity or as a substitute for hand labor.Second, they are seeking to replace lost workers with a new labor source — for example, women and H2-A guest workers, although the complications of providing housing in coastal California have limited the viability of the H2-A guest workers option.The third way is the focus of this study: offsetting the labor shortage by boosting retention of existing workers through increased job satisfaction.High job satisfaction, defined as a “pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from one’s…job experience” , is linked to positive effects on both employees and organizations, with evidence of a causal relationship.Benefits include lower worker turnover , increased work performance , lower absenteeism and healthier workers.Job satisfaction has been categorized in numerous ways, but core categories include the type of work performed, rewards, professional growth or promotional opportunities, supervision, and coworkers.
Additional categories may be included under specific circumstances , and the most salient categories often differ between occupations.Conversations on how to address satisfaction in the agricultural workplace understandably tend to focus on pay and benefits, with some acknowledgment that reducing harassment and favoritism is also beneficial.Because the nature of the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover goes beyond financial compensation, companies may seek to reduce turnover by adopting strategies that carry a lower financial burden.This includes respectful treatment of workers, ensuring a safe workplace, providing workers a diversity of tasks and promotional opportunities, and formalizing labor relations procedures.Despite decades of research on job satisfaction in other occupations , there has been a paucity of research on agricultural workers.To date, the few studies of satisfaction in California agriculture have been primarily based on interviews of workers.Building on this qualitative work, we developed a quantitative survey to identify and describe the job satisfaction categories that drive turnover in a population of Napa County vineyard workers.We investigated how satisfaction may vary by three key demographics — employment status , gender and age.And we conducted a limited set of follow-up interviews with a selection of participating workers to explore specific issues raised in the survey.Collectively, these results provide feedback to agricultural employers from their workers on how their company is performing in various aspects of job satisfaction, which strategies and activities they should invest in to boost job satisfaction, and how they can adapt their strategies to target specific worker demographics.We envision the agricultural industry adopting this survey tool to formally evaluate their progress toward improved job satisfaction and increased workforce sustainability.In summer 2018, we surveyed 611 vineyard crew members and 54 of their immediate supervisors from 14 companies operating out of Napa County.There were an estimated 10,000 vineyard workers in Napa County in 2018, and our survey therefore captured approximately 6.5% of the workforce.Participating employers learned about the study through contact with or recruitment by the UC Cooperative Extension research team or by advertisement at industry meetings.Under previous arrangements with their employer, survey participants completed the questionnaire in small groups while at work and were paid their normal hourly rate while they participated.Since all participants were Spanish speaking, the study was conducted in Spanish by a bilingual research assistant who displayed the questions on a flipchart and also read them aloud in Spanish.