Promising practice: Employer adapted an existing Process Improvement Team of democratically-elected workers to support implementation of COVID-19 protocols and the development & dissemination of COVID-19 educational messaging to a large workforce.

CDC/OSHA Guidance recommendation(s) addressed: Ensure workers have access to current information; Designate a workplace coordinator responsible for COVID-19 assessment; Ensure coordinator provides materials in preferred languages and at the appropriate literacy level.

Agricultural employer who implemented the practice:

• Employer name: Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce, brand name GoodFarms
• Type of business: Berry and tomato grower
• Location: California & Mexico
• Number of employees: 10,000 farmworkers total; 4,000 farmworkers employed in California

Description of the practice:

• Key strategies: GoodFarms employs approximately 4,000 workers in California each year, and hires nearly 1,000 H-2A workers. Efficient and effective communication are essential to the success of the business, and this became even more critical during the pandemic. GoodFarms, an Equitable Food Initiative certified operation, had already established a Process Improvement Team pre-pandemic as a component of the Equitable Food Initiative program. The Team was comprised of 10-15 worker representatives who were elected by their peers or who volunteered to be on the Team. Before the pandemic, this Team worked to improve on-farm processes by receiving input from workers in the field and funneling the information to management.  During the pandemic, the Team took on the added role of providing feedback to management on workers’ concerns around COVID-19 and implementation issues with COVID-19 safety protocols. The Team also helped to develop educational materials and educational text messages about COVID-19 that were distributed to the entire workforce. Educational text messages were distributed through the Ganaz app, a tool for farm businesses to communicate with employees via smartphones. GoodFarms management also worked with the Team and workers who spoke Spanish and Indigenous languages to help develop pictorial educational messages, and to translate written information for workers who do not speak English or Spanish. 
• Key challenges and how they were addressed: GoodFarms found their employees were very open to implementing COVID-19 safety protocols and did not face major challenges in protocol compliance. Since they had already established a Process Improvement Team and use of the Ganaz app for information dissemination, they did not have to work to establish these processes during the pandemic. No major challenges for this Promising Practice were reported.
• Resources needed and expenses: Employee time was paid for participation on the Process Improvement Team. The Ganaz app for text message communications has pricing structures that vary based on user number and features. 
• Partners: This promising practice did not leverage external partnerships, but did leverage employee knowledge and expertise in partnership with management. ​​

Results:
Specific feedback about the Process Improvement Team was not collected, but the collective COVID-19 prevention and mitigation measures that GoodFarms implemented were highly effective. Less than 1% of their workforce in the U.S. (n = 38) tested positive for COVID-19 as of December 2020, and they never had to cease operations due to outbreaks.

Promising practice: Employer adapted paid sick leave policies to cover workers experiencing potential symptoms of COVID-19, leveraged external partnerships to provide on-farm COVID-19 testing to potentially exposed workers, and actively communicated information about test results to employees.

CDC/OSHA Guidance recommendation(s) addressed: Encourage workers to report symptoms immediately when on-site; Provide workers who have symptoms with access to direct medical care or telemedicine, when appropriate; Develop an action plan for workers with suspected or confirmed COVID-19; Modify policies to ensure ill workers can stay home and are not punished for taking sick leave.

Agricultural employer who implemented the practice:

• Employer name: AgSocio
• Type of business: Farm labor contractor
• Location: California
• Number of employees: 70

Description of the practice:

• Key strategies: AgSocio is a farm labor contractor for horticultural growers in central California. In the early phases of the pandemic, AgSocio immediately waived the normal waiting period for three days of paid sick leave to new employees after the passage of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) when it was signed into law on March 18th, 2020, and worked to notify all employees of this change through mass text messages, in-person tailgate meetings, and by placing posters in English and Spanish in visible areas in the workplace.
  
  When an employee reported COVID-19 symptoms to a manager upon their arrival to work, the employee and the two employees who carpooled with the employee were immediately sent home and notified that they would be placed on paid sick leave until they could be tested for COVID-19. Other crew members were notified by management that another employee (without disclosing the employee’s identity) was experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Crew members expressed concern for their own health and safety, so AgSocio worked with the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California and Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas to provide on-farm testing for the 29-member crew. Once all test results were received, all tested employees were notified of the group’s results (all negative) via text message. You can view a sample of the text message below under Tools and Resources.
• Key challenges and how they were addressed: Work time was lost by asking employees with potential symptoms but no positive test to self-isolate, but AgSocio viewed this expense as low in comparison to potentially dealing with an outbreak among domestic and H-2A guest workers. Employee concerns about losing work were eased by AgSocio’s early and frequent communication about employee’s ability to use paid sick leave without fear of retaliation.
• Resources needed and expenses: AgSocio had to spend staff time arranging for testing and communicating results to employees, and paid for three days paid sick leave for the three employees who were asked to self-isolate until they could be tested. Paid sick leave time expenses were reimbursed under the FFCRA because AgSocio has fewer than 500 employees.
• Partners: Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas

Results:
AgSocio’s highly proactive and professional approach to COVID-19 prevention was effective at preventing outbreaks of COVID-19 infections among their workforce. As of December 2020, only 2% of their workforce had tested positive for COVID-19, a figure far below the 13% COVID-19 prevalence rate of farmworkers in the area.

Tools and resources: 

• Paid sick leave policy poster (in English and Spanish)
• Sample text message notification about test results & COVID-19 prevention (in Spanish)

​
Find out more: 

• AgSocio: www.agsocio.com/
• Partnership between the Grower-Shipper Association and Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas: www.growershipper.com/blog/gsa-partners-with-csvs-to-expedite-covid-19-testing-for-farm-workers-422.htm

Promising practice: Employer appropriately developed communication and training that outlined COVID operation procedures, sick leave policies, proper handwashing practices, and other best practices for keeping safe and healthy.

CDC/OSHA Guidance recommendation(s) addressed: Implement a control plan with appropriate communication and trainings.

Agricultural employer who implemented the practice:

• Employer name: Gaia Herbs
• Type of business: Mixed herb grower
• Location: North Carolina
• Number of employees: 315

Description of the practice:

• Key strategies: Gaia Herbs’ farm and human resource staff came together to form the farm’s Health and Safety committee. Before H-2A guest workers arrived in the spring, the committee met frequently to modify their operations and trainings. Together they developed protocols to address issues around shared vehicles, sanitation guidelines, and quarantine expectations.
  
  Employee onboarding included: COVID-19 prevention protocols when at the farm, access to sick leave, farm processes, and COVID-19 safety practices. With protocols in place, the farm’s Health and Safety committee scheduled monthly meetings to ensure that employees were responding to changing conditions and addressing employees concerns and feedback. Gaia Herbs recognized that employees would have additional concerns and questions in regard to their health, COVID-19, and access to care, therefore they partnered with local health centers and organizations to provide mobile health services directly onsite. Specifically, a series of visits to the farm were scheduled with health care providers to provide employees with Q&A sessions, medical translation services, and COVID-19 testing.
• Key challenges and how they were addressed: Gaia Herbs had to significantly shift their communication methods with their staff including how they presented trainings and information. Because of this they made the decision to push back the start date on their growing season in order to spend time to prepare trainings and protocols. Ultimately employees were onboarded with a comprehensive training program and provided the information they needed to continue working and living safely.
• Resources needed and expenses: In order to properly prepare for the incoming H-2A guest workers’ arrival, Gaia Herbs pushed back their schedule and staggered employee arrival dates. With that delay, they were able to implement and evaluate many COVID-19 prevention practices with the existing farm management staff prior to the arrival of H-2A guestworkers. Additionally, human resources also had to spend time to research appropriate resources and best practices to modify their existing wellness policies.
• Partners: Vecinos Farmworker Health, Pardee, Blue Ridge Health, North Carolina Cooperative Extension, and North Carolina Pandemic Recovery Office

Results:
Gaia’s efforts to train workers in modified processes and keep them up to date on emergent COVID-19 issues on their farm and in the surrounding area have paid off. There have been no cases of on-farm transmission of the virus during the entirety of the pandemic as of February 2021.

​Find out more: 

• Gaia Herbs

Promising practice: The employer provided information and reinforced COVID safe protocols through multilingual materials and visual media.

CDC/OSHA Guidance recommendation(s) addressed: Basic information and training about infection prevention is being provided to all farmworkers in languages and methods they can understand.

Agricultural employers who implemented the practice:

• Employer name: Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce, brand name GoodFarms
• Type of business: Berry and tomato grower
• Location: California & Mexico
• Number of employees: 10,000 farmworkers total; 4,000 farmworkers employed in California
  
• Employer name: Gaia Herbs
• Type of business: Mixed herb grower
• Location: North Carolina
• Number of employees: 315

Description of the practice:

• Key strategies: At the start of the pandemic, it became clear that frequent and effective communication between employers and employees would be crucial to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in the workplace. GoodFarms and Gaia Farms made it clear that they wanted all of their communication and resources for workers to be easy to understand and for it to be provided in languages appropriate to the preferred languages spoken by workers. These employers made use of visual and pictorial media to convey information in languages nonnative to them but that would benefit their employees.
  
  GoodFarms made use of the communication application called Ganaz, an application similar to Whatsapp, by sending COVID-19 information directly into the hands of their employees. Instructions on how to opt in and use Ganaz was already part of their onboarding process, so it was a natural conduit for information and protocol reinforcement. Employees without a phone received a sanitized tablet so they could stay updated. All messages were provided in English and other languages spoken by employees along with pictures and images to illustrate workplace protocols. Another use of pictorial media was through Gaia Farms’ use of color alerts. These alerts were posted on their farms and warehouses every day and were used to grade COVID-19 risk in their workplace and community; this helped employees assess the level of risk in their surroundings.
• Key challenges and how they were addressed: Finding COVID-19 information in languages other than English, particularly at the beginning of the pandemic, was difficult for employers, especially if they employed staff who spoke indigenous languages. GoodFarms produced some translation in-house by asking some of their bilingual and multilingual employees to translate information for their peers, while Gaia Farms collaborated with Vecinos Inc., a local healthcare provider, to provide multilingual information and resources to their employees.
• Resources needed and expenses: The multilingual employees at GoodFarms’ volunteered their time, and were compensated, to translate COVID-19 information and resources so that all employees could have access. Additionally, administrative staff time went to researching what type of information presentation best conveyed their messaging to farmworkers who spoke a language other than English.
• Partners: Vecinos Farmworker Health (NC)

Results:
Both agencies had a very low incidence of COVID positivity rates among employees during 2020. Less than 1% of GoodFarms employees tested positive during 2020 and Gaia Farms has had no cases of on-farm transmission of the virus during 2020.

​Find out more: 

• GoodFarms
• Gaia Herbs
• Ganaz
• COVID-19 Informational Flyer

Promising practice: Employer completely changed how they reached and delivered food to customers by changing from an on-site, farmers’ market business model to one that relied on selling CSA (community-supported agriculture) shares and creating different pick-up sites throughout the city to minimize the owner and employees contact with customers.

CDC/OSHA Guidance recommendation(s) addressed: Promote social distancing.

Agricultural employers who implemented the practice:

• Employer name: VRDNT Farm
• Type of business: Mixed vegetable grower
• Location: Texas
• Number of employees: 4

Description of the practice:

• Key strategies: VRDNT Farm owner & operator Becky Hume was very concerned about both person-to-person spread of COVID-19 and risks for both the farm’s employees and their customers. After speaking with her employees and hearing concerns about potential exposures at work, she quickly shifted sales models. She moved from a sales model that relied heavily on lots of person-to-person contact at local farmers’ markets and through restaurants to a model that reduced contact for employees and customers. She contacted customers and switched to a CSA model with online sales and had local drop-off points in her customer’s neighborhoods. Both Becky and local businesses found that the relationship was mutually beneficial, especially at local bakeries where customers enjoyed purchasing fresh vegetables and fresh baked goods at the same time.
  
  This greatly reduced employees’ contact with customers since it only required the employee to drop off the orders of produce at the local business, and customers could pick up the order at their convenience during a set window of time. Each box or bag of produce was sealed to avoid any potential contamination by other customers or employees at the local business.
• Key challenges and how they were addressed: Initially dealing with the shift in the sales model was challenging, but Becky’s customers were supportive of the move. The biggest challenge was the significant investment of Becky’s time in learning how to do online sales and figuring out new sales logistics, which is described below.
• Resources needed and expenses: Becky had invested a lot of resources and time into creating sales at farmers’ markets and local restaurants, and she did have to invest significant time into shifting her model into online sales. She had to set up an online shop so customers could order her produce or CSA shares, and this required software expenses and and her time in order to learn how to manage the online sales platform. She also had to invest time in learning how to market produce on social media, since there were very few in-person opportunities for marketing.
• Partners: Other local businesses to use as CSA drop-off points.

Results:
Despite the initial set-back, Becky’s online sales model has been paying off and enabled her to stay profitable despite the loss of access to farmers’ markets and restaurant sales earlier in the pandemic. Becky and her team have not have any positive tests for COVID-19.

Promising practice: Opening windows in worker housing, using fans in every room. Disinfecting highly touched surfaces by designating a different responsible worker every week.

CDC/OSHA Guidance recommendation(s) addressed: Ensuring shared rooms have good air flow; Developing and implementing enhanced sanitation and cleaning plans that address frequency of sanitation and cleaning

Agricultural employers who implemented the practice:

• Employer name: Peters Orchards
• Type of business: Apple and peach producer
• Location: Pennsylvania
• Number of employees: 140

Description of the practice:

• Key strategies: Workers live in apartment and barracks style housing which have window A/C units. Workers were encouraged to open the windows and use fans that had been purchased by the employer, rather than rely on A/C units that recirculate indoor air. This was in response to the growing amount of evidence that good airflow indoors was critical to preventing the spread of the virus. Housing was also made safer by implementing a daily disinfecting procedure. Alcohol wipes and other cleaning sprays were used to clean door handles, sinks, light switches and other highly touched areas in housing. To ensure implementation of cleaning protocols, workers rotated cleaning roles every week.
• Key challenges and how they were addressed: On some of the hottest nights of the summer, housing units got uncomfortably hot, and workers asked to use the air conditioning. Management responded by explaining the benefits and drawbacks to workers, but ultimately left it up to the workers to decide based on their personal risk tolerance.
• Resources needed and expenses: Purchasing fans was a significant cost. To cut down on expenses, they bought used fans from local thrift stores and had some donated by family. Purchasing disinfectant and cleaning supplies was a minor cost. The biggest resource for success was the workers –it was critical to solicit their input and keep them informed of the reasons behind each decision.
• Partners: Local donors

Results:
Workers opted for the A/C on several occasions, but overall understood the risk associated with it. Only 5 workers tested positive for COVID-19 throughout all of 2020. They were able to be quarantined in an extra apartment unit and return to work after two weeks.

Promising practice: Two different employers implemented similar policies and protocols to improve the safety of shared worker transportation, including spacing individuals out as much as possible, implementing a “same seat” policy, requiring face mask use in vehicles, and implementing a rigorous vehicle disinfection protocol.

CDC/OSHA Guidance recommendation(s) addressed: Wear cloth masks in a shared vehicle; limit the number of people in the vehicle; group or cohort workers together; make hand hygiene available; clean and disinfect transport vehicles.

Agricultural employers who implemented the practice:

• Employer name: AgSocio
• Type of business: Farm labor contractor
• Location: California
• Number of employees: 70
  
• Employer name: Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce, brand name GoodFarms
• Type of business: Berry and tomato grower
• Location: California & Mexico
• Number of employees: 10,000 farmworkers total; 4,000 farmworkers employed in California

Description of the practice:

• Key strategies: Since shared, enclosed vehicles present a high-risk scenario for COVID-19 transmission, AgSocio and GoodFarms quickly implemented a series of protocols involving sanitizing vehicles after each trip, spacing out passengers, and requiring face mask use inside vehicles. GoodFarms implemented a multi-step vehicle cleaning and disinfection protocol to ensure vehicles were thoroughly sanitized each day. See the video (captions in Spanish) on the right to watch how GoodFarms sanitizes their shared transportation vehicles.
  
  AgSocio also implemented a vehicle sanitization protocol after each trip, and also required workers to ride in the same seat of the same vehicle each day to reduce any possible risk of transmission. Drivers recorded each time the vehicle was sanitized, and recorded the passengers in the vehicle each day (see sample form from AgSocio under Tools and Resources). Both agencies reduced the number of passengers per vehicle so that riders were not riding shoulder-to-shoulder.
• Key challenges and how they were addressed: This was logistically challenging, since extra staff time was needed to clean and disinfect the vehicles, and expenses increased due to a greater number of trips since passenger capacity was reduced. Agencies also had to ensure that face masks and hand sanitizer were available at all times for drivers and passengers. These challenges were addressed through training on new protocols and increased spending for staff time and transport.
• Resources needed and expenses: The primary expenses were related to cleaning and sanitization supplies, PPE for staff doing the sanitization, paying for staff time to sanitize vehicles and run extra trips, and increased fuel expenses.
• Partners: No external partners were needed to implement this recommendation. 

Results:
Both agencies had a very low incidence of COVID positivity rates among employees during 2020. Less than 1% of GoodFarms employees tested positive during 2020, and only 2 of AgSocio’s employees tested positive during 2020. Implementing prevention measures like these are costly, but both agencies felt that avoiding COVID-19 outbreaks and business shut-downs offset the expenses incurred.

Tools and resources: 

• AgSocio’s vehicle sanitization and passenger form
• Video of GoodFarm’s passenger spacing on bus

​
Find out more: 

• AgSocio: www.agsocio.com/
• GoodFarms: goodfarms.com/

Promising practice: Labor contractors processing visa documents for groups of workers 

CDC/OSHA Guidance recommendation(s) addressed: Group workers together into cohorts; minimize the number of different individuals who come into close contact with each other  

Agricultural employers who implemented the practice:

• Employer name: CIERTO Global
• Type of business: Farm labor recruiter
• Location: Washington & Mexico
• Number of employees: 1,800

Description of the practice:

• Key strategies: To reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure, CIERTO implemented a new protocol for processing worker H-2A visas. Before the pandemic, each worker would go to a U.S. consular office and stay in a hotel for several days while their visas were processed. Under their revised process, when a cohort of Mexican workers was ready to travel to the United States to start working, a representative from CIERTO collected all necessary documents from the workers in their hometowns, then traveled to the U.S. consular office to have them processed.   CIERTO then arranged transportation for the workers from their hometowns directly to the border crossing point, where the organization’s representative met with them and gave them their visas. This prevented a COVID-19 exposure risk for the 1,800 H-2A workers that it sponsored in 2020. 
• Key challenges and how they were addressed: CIERTO knew that taking workers’ documents is not usually best practice and can be a red flag for workers. They therefore approached it with an abundance of trust and communication. CIERTO explained to workers that it was in everyone’s best interest to avoid large cities like Monterrey or Tijuana, where H-2A workers normally wait for three days to receive the visas before entering the United States. Each worker signed a release or a power of attorney form, authorizing CIERTO to transport their documents. The Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations office was also informed of their route every time they transported workers’ documents.   
• Resources needed and expenses: This practice saved money for the business.  Before implementing this system of transportation, CIERTO was paying for extra buses to be able to socially distance workers on each leg of the route from their hometown in Mexico to the farm in the United States.  By avoiding the large cities and the COVID-19 contamination risk they posed, workers were kept in pods for longer stretches, which led to savings of time and money. 
• Partners: CIERTO has working relationships with the Department of Labor, Department of State and officials in U.S. consular offices in Mexico.  They also communicated constantly with Mexican officials in the Foreign Relations office.  These relationships and communication channels allowed CIERTO to implement the new protocol of having documents processed for an entire cohort of workers.  CIERTO also partnered with the International Labour Organization, an arm of the United Nations, to develop and execute this practice transparently, making sure the workers were informed of their rights and options for travelling to the United States.  

Results:
Of 1,800 workers recruited and brought to the United States, only 4 tested positive for COVID-19 when they arrived at their farms. Workers were generally happier not having to spend time in an unfamiliar city while waiting for their documents, and the employers that CIERTO contracts with were glad to save on transportation costs. 

​
Find out more: 

• CIERTO Global: https://ciertoglobal.org/