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Article

17 Jul 2024

Auteur:
By Melina Walling and Dorany Pineda, The Washington Post (USA)

Takeaways from AP story on dangerous heat threats to greenhouse workers

... Many farms, from vertical farming startups to traditional specialty crop growers, are marketing greenhouses as a way to shelter crops from climate extremes. But overlooked are the experiences of workers inside, who may swelter under high heat and humidity.

The number of greenhouse and nursery workers has increased by over 16,000 in recent years, according to the latest U.S. agricultural census, and there are still no federal heat rules to protect them.

The data, along with stories of current and former greenhouse workers, shows a growing population of people increasingly vulnerable to heat-related illnesses, injuries and death as global temperatures rise and greenhouses become more popular…

Other workers across the U.S. described losing weight, dizziness and fainting from extreme heat.

In those conditions, workers who don’t get enough breaks in cooler environments, whose shifts are not pushed earlier or later in the summer and whose managers ignore their concerns are the most at risk…

In what was supposed to be a “climate-resilient food system,” workers say temperatures frequently reached 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius) inside facilities at the now-bankrupt AppHarvest, a startup with greenhouses in Kentucky that touted itself as a climate solution…

[AppHarvest did not respond to the Washington's Post's request for comment]