Farmers and Global Warming

news from the trenches. these sorts of temps in baja are unheard of. ther's always a breeze and the maritime influence that moderates the weather.
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original-farmsnotarms

Farmers and Global Warming
by Michael O'Gorman


It was a fairly normal day for me last year on June 21, the longest day of the season. I started out the day working out of our packing facility in the relative cool of the dusty, coastal town in North Baja California then that afternoon started the four hundred mile ride in my pick-up to my southernmost farm, “down in the desert”, where our tomato harvest was already in full swing. Lupio, one of our young employees, came along to help me drive. I wanted to get out in the fields at daybreak the next day.



Driving out to the farm the next morning the sun rose over the silhouettes of cactus behind us, while the coyotes and jack rabbits raced back and forth over the 10 miles of sandy road after we left the pavement. As the workers got off their busses, the chatter was all about the heat the day before. Several had gotten sick on the way home, vomiting uncontrollably. Others, mostly women, didn’t show up for work that morning, concerned for the smaller kids that would be left at home.



I thought about letting everyone go home, concerned seriously for their health. But the heat combined with the long days was ripening the tomatoes at an amazing rate. Falling behind on the harvest would trigger early death of the plants and reduce any money we had to pay the workers, to keep them employed.

I gave the keys to my truck to Lupio, and said he would spend the day running ice and Gatorade from the closest town back to the farm, and that I would stay in the field with the crew. I met with the workers and told them work was not mandatory, that people could take all the breaks that they needed, that we would double our harvest bonus and add two hours of overtime pay to their days work.



The day started out normal enough. We had four different harvest crews and they would all be picking either grape or cherry tomatoes. The plants were in full production, looking like hedges of Christmas holly – dark green with splashes of small red tomatoes. They were mostly about six feet tall with eight feet between the rows.
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complete article here

buetiful place, but is no evidence of global warming just a hot day, that would be sun stroke just need good hats and lots to drink no? sometimes if outside tempiture is above a certain range it is dnagerous to work, as your body cannot cool itself...in glasshouses everyone goes out side if it hits think it is 35-40 degrees clecius, you could have a thermometer in the shade and when it hits a certain temperature have evryone come in for an extended lunch, until it reaches a safe level again