UF/IFAS Extension Helps Farmworkers Stay Safe From COVID

UF/IFAS EXTENSION EXPERTS are communicating with agricultural workers to connect them with COVID-19 free testing, safety information and training – a role they have been serving throughout the pandemic.

- BRAD BUCK & LOURDES RODRIGUEZ

UF/IFAS Extension agents are partnering with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), county health agencies and farmworker coalitions throughout the state.

Extension agents statewide have led the grass-roots efforts by:

• Conducting scheduled mask distributions,

• Providing training for growers on social distancing, frequent hand washing and sanitizing of surfaces and how to avoid close-contact situations, and

• Translating posters with COVID-19 safety instructions into Spanish and Haitian Creole to reach more community members.

Gene McAvoy, associate director of stakeholder relations at the UF/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center (SWFREC) in Immokalee, appreciates the testing program led by FDACS and helps lead a program to teach farm-labor supervisors to keep ag workers safer during COVID-19.