Midwest Growers' Mail Survey of Contributors to Migrant Health and Nutrition

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to solicit information from farm owners (growers), as representatives of their farm businesses, regarding descriptive information on migrant camp housing that may contribute to the health and nutritional status of employed workers and their families. This cross-sectional descriptive mail survey was sent to 802 growers in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania via the US Postal Service. The growers were identified by an Internet search for licensed agricultural work camps in Midwest departments of agriculture. Response rate was 34%. Overall, growers reported a median of one migrant camp with 23 residents, employing workers seasonally for either 10 weeks or 6 months, with seven accompanying children on site. Individual kitchen appliances varied across the states, potentially influencing the preparation of healthy meals. Three themes were identified from the results. First, over one third of owners lacked or had limited knowledge about the health services available to migrant families. Second, migrant workers may have limited access to a variety of fresh produce for household meal preparation. Third, migrant children were unable to easily access public play areas, and families lacked recreational spaces in agricultural work camps. Play areas in migrant camps were mostly identified as open fields with little play equipment on site. Knowledge learned can influence future agricultural camp practices and the design of future research studies, and provide direction for grower education topics presented at agricultural conferences and by extension services.

Keywords:

• Agriculture
• migrant
• minority health

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Pilot Research Grant Program, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University. Additional support for the author was made possible by the Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Clinic Clinical Translational Science Collaboration Grant UL1 RR024989 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official view of NCRR or NIH.

The author acknowledges Ana Solano Lopez and Kaitlyn Roudebush as valuable research team members, Li Lin who contributed statistical support, and those growers who kindly responded to the survey.