Fields of Change

Welcome to Westover, considered the “ Hilton of Labor Camps ” despite its notorious history of human rights violations. Up a dirt road, past a creek where people both on and of this camp fill their bottles with water for drinking, you are greeted by the signs that warn visitors away.

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers who are made to live at Westover are part of the “Eastern Migratory Stream” of laborers who stay on the Eastern Shore of Maryland from late March or early April to late October. Among the crops that provide migrants jobs in Maryland are asparagus, strawberries, peas, cherries, snap beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, lima beans, cantaloupes, watermelons, white potatoes, sweet corn. Some also work for nurseries that provide trees and shrubs for landscaping companies and retail stores. Additionally, some workers work in processing plants like tomato canning.

Housing conditions at Westover have cycled through improvements and deterioration. Current structures are from the last major renovations made in the mid 1980s by Somerset Growers Association, the operators of the Westover Camp at the time, under pressure from Maryland's Commission on Migratory and Seasonal Farm Labor and The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to bring the camp up to standard. The negotiated agreement was a 5-year timetable of renovations and facilities replacements. New facilities provided included “garbage disposals, cooking facilities, refrigerators, beds or cots, tables, chairs, sanitized mattresses, mattress covers, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and first aid kits” per a  1983 U.S. Civil Rights Commission Report .

During visits to Westover Labor Camp in the summer of 2023, we noticed several signs posted in bathrooms warning residents not to drink the water. But these signs were not from any official governmental agency. They appeared to have been posted by residents at the camp.

Safety of the drinking water seems to be a long standing concern and an added stressor for the farmworkers living there.  

Drinking water at the camp (also known as Kuzzens Labor Camp) is provided by four wells dug between 1984 and 2010. Since these wells provide drinking water for an average of at least 25 people for at least 60 days per year, they are classified as public water systems. This means that they are subject to federal regulations. There are  3 types of public water systems : community water systems, non-transient non-community water systems, and transient non-community water systems. 

Public water systems must be monitored for a number of chemical and biological contaminants to reduce consumer risk, but federal monitoring requirements differ by system type. Transient non-community water systems, like the systems at Westover Labor Camp, require monitoring for far fewer contaminants than the other two system types.

At Westover Labor Camp, the four wells (in  Section A ,  Section B ,  Section C , and  Section D ) must be monitored for total coliforms, e. coli and nitrates. Between 2013 and 2023, total coliforms have been detected occasionally in several of the wells. 

Residents have periodically reported a “rotten egg” odor coming from the water, and often prefer to use an alternative source for their drinking water. A common source of this odor in groundwater is hydrogen sulfide from  sulfur bacteria . While drinking water containing low levels of sulfur is generally considered safe, it can cause dehydration and diarrhea for some people. Many of the residents at Westover Labor Camp get their drinking water from what looks like a drainage pipe poking out from the bank of a creek located at the entrance to the camp.

The source of this water is unknown, but residents believe the water quality from the pipe is better than the water provided at the camp. 

A method to remove low levels of hydrogen sulfide and several other potential contaminants is granulated activated carbon (GAC) filters. Point of use filters are less expensive than point of entry filters, and they can be installed directly on a faucet. The Westover Labor Camp owners should provide these filters for the kitchen sinks to improve the quality of water used for drinking and cooking.

The Maryland Department of Health should also test the wells at least once for other potential well water contaminants relevant to local land uses and geology. Many of the workers housed at Westover Labor Camp return every year, and they are an essential part of the largest commercial industry in Maryland, which generates more than $8 billion to the economy each year.

Ownership of the Westover Labor Camp has wavered since its origins in the 1930s. While it started out as New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp, it would soon morph into an army post when the CCC was discontinued when the U.S. entered World War II in 1941. This army post was renamed to Camp Somerset, which, at its peak, was said to house close to 1000 soldiers. When Camp Somerset soldiers were reassigned to Camp Pemberton, VA, in 1944, a shortage of farm labor due to WWII led to a request for German prisoners of war. POWs were contracted out to work on farms, sawmills, and meatpacking plants throughout Somerset County, sometimes working for only eight cents a day. The German POWs were held at Camp Somerset until 1946 until they were sent back to Germany.

In 1946, Camp Somerset was purchased from the Army by the University of Maryland. Shortly after, the camp transitioned into a migrant labor camp, which it remains today. Today, the camp is known as the Westover Labor Camp and appears to be owned by Lipman — a tomato growing and canning company headquartered in Immokalee, Florida. It is now the largest and most infamous labor camp on the Eastern Shore, and is home to 700 migrant and seasonal farm workers.

The patchwork of employment/labor laws and governmental authorities at state and federal levels have created vulnerabilities for farmworkers. Rules governing the livability of employer-provided housing for agricultural labor is one area where this is especially evident.

Until the farmer can harvest his tomato, bean, cucumber, and pepper crops by machine there will always be a market for the migrant. He is the cement that holds the Shore's farming economy together. The farmer is first to admit it. "Without the migrant our canning industry would just have to shut down."

The “Tiny Blue Houses” is a migrant labor camp located at a family-run farm in the middle of Caroline County on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Driving up to the farm makes you feel like you’re in the middle of a large expanse as the site is quite remote with huge sprawling fields. However, on arriving at the “Tiny Blue Houses”, one of the three farmworker housing camps, everything feels small and cramped. The farm was initially sold to the Quidas family in 1910 and has stayed in the family since then. For some time, the family farm has employed migrant seasonal farmworkers to help cultivate the produce they grow on their farms as well as raise their chickens. Their crops include melons, sweet corn, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, and beans.

Moving up to the houses these farm workers live in, there was a no trespassing sign in front of the houses inviting caution to any visitors that approach. There were six tiny houses in the small plot of land surrounded by forest on one side and farmland on the other. Puddles of water in the gravel drive likely from a recent rainstorm induce concerns about the difficulty of evacuating these homes during a flooding event. 

The houses themselves are tiny and run down. The tallest house has an old ladder leading to an attic which may be used for storage or in the case of flooding or storms possible shelter. Between the house and the street was an open, blue trash container. On the far end of the plot was a folding camping chair in the shade of the trees and near that were two metal goalposts from playing soccer. One had a tattered net while the other had no net at all. With the conditions of the houses, it is hard to imagine that there is AC within the homes and the porta potties behind the houses indicate there is no running water. The poor conditions of the housing make it difficult for the migrant farmworkers to seek any sort of relief from the increasingly hot summer temperatures they must endure while working in the fields.

Climate Change threatens to shake Maryland’s agriculture industry to its core because all climate hazards impact farm work. Sea level rise can flood fields and damage soil, extreme heat and extreme precipitation make it more difficult for farmworkers to do their jobs while damaging crops. All of these threats have devastating effects on farm owners and even greater impacts on the migrant seasonal farmworkers they employ.

The purpose of this section of Fields of Change is to describe and visualize climate hazards on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and discuss how current Maryland and national policies protect the health of and create vulnerabilities for migrant seasonal farm workers throughout the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Due to a combination of rising temperatures and changes in land use, sea-levels are rising on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Sea-level rise, in combination with extreme precipitation is causing the rate of flooding to rise. Health risks as a result of flooding include physical injury, risk of bacterial infection, risk of exposure to toxic chemicals, and mental health harms ( Paterson et al., 2018 ). The map below displays the 100-year and 500-year flood plain, which indicates a 1% and 0.2% chance of that area flooding every year. However, it is important to note that flooding can occur outside of the 100-year or 500-year floodplain.

Flooding impacts farm worker’s jobs themselves which impacts their overall health and wellbeing. Extreme precipitation can cause the decrease of work hours because of the precipitation which leads to decreased pay. Also flooding can impact certain crops like watermelon and make them unusable because they are waterlogged. Farm workers at the “Tiny Blue Houses” site grow melons and the photo below highlights how fields of waterlogged and destroyed watermelons are left to rot on the field. In these cases, farm workers are unable to work and these situations may lead to fewer employment opportunities in the future as overall yields decrease.

Another impact of sea-level rise is saltwater intrusion which is when the brackish water of the Chesapeake Bay seeps into soils which usually absorb freshwater. This impacts plant life and crop yields because the salty soil prevents the growth of many plants that are not adjusted to those conditions ( Cox, 2024 ). As farms face saltwater intrusion, their crop yields are impacted as salty water impairs the growth of the crops. Smaller crop yields means less work and less pay for farmworkers.  Mondal et al., 2023  explore the environmental and economic impacts of saltwater intrusion on farming in the Mid-Atlantic.

The map below identifies salt patches based on satellite data on several plots in Caroline County.  Mondal et al., 2023  explains that the presence of a salt patch is a sign that sea level rise has heavily impacted that land. It is also a sign that the quality of the soil is declining which has historically led to the abandonment of farmland. This has strong implications for the wellbeing of migrant seasonal farmworkers as lower quality soil and the possibility of abandoning the farm means that their pay will be decreased or worse, they will lose their jobs. 

Outdoor workers like migrant seasonal farmworkers are vulnerable to the impacts of extreme temperatures. Being outside all day while performing intense physical labor significantly increases the risk of heat-related illness and mortality. The map above average surface temperature between May and October of 2023. For the "Tiny Blue Houses", the average summer time temperature is between 81 and 89 degrees Fahrenheit. It is important to remember, since the data is averaged over 6 months, this data does not highlight the days with extreme heat levels or temperatures greater than 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

A 2015 study found that over 33% of outdoor agricultural workers experience symptoms of a heat-related illness between June and August ( Arcury et al., 2015 ).  Heat-related illnesses  include heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Heat cramps occur when workers are sweating a lot when performing intense physical activity which results in muscle cramps and pain in the body. Heat exhaustion also occurs when the body has lost too much water and salt through sweating and its symptoms include headache, nausea, and dizziness ( NIOSH, 2023 ). 

Heat stroke is one of the most serious heat-related illnesses. It occurs when the body cannot control its own temperature and heats up to dangerous temperatures. If not treated, heat stroke can lead to permanent disability or death. Some signs of heat stroke include confusion, slurred words, coma, and seizures. Strategies to prevent heat-related illnesses include staying hydrated and regular breaks in the shade or in cool indoor spaces ( NIOSH, 2023 ).

The housing provided to migrant workers at the "Tiny Blue Houses" and at other labor camps do not provide relief for the extreme working conditions workers face.  Quandt et al., 2013  studies the indoor temperatures and humidity of farm owner-provided housing for migrant farmworkers in North Carolina. Over half of the rooms in the study did not have air conditioning and the study discusses how both in common rooms and sleeping rooms, the heat indexes of rooms exceeded livable levels. The "Tiny Blue Houses" likely do not have AC so in the hot and humid conditions of the summer, migrant farmworkers have few opportunities to limit their heat exposure.

Extreme temperatures can impact the pay of migrant farm workers as well. Higher temperatures may impact plant growth and this could mean that there are fewer crops growing and less work for farm workers which can affect how much they are paid. Also, heat-related illnesses such as heat exhaustion can impair worker’s productivity, which can also lead to fewer hours able to work and lead to decreased pay.

The combination of extreme heat, extreme precipitation, sea-level rise, and other harmful climate impacts can produce harmful effects to the crop yields. The image above of fields of discarded watermelon is just one sign of these harmful impacts. The presence of salt patches, as discussed above, is another indicator of declining cropland quality. In the map below/above, we calculate the health of vegetation between May and October of 2023. The "Tiny Blue Houses" is in the “Moderately Healthy” range, which may indicate declining crop health. These indicators of climate-driven crop decline means the jobs of migrant seasonal farmworkers are at risk. And if farmworkers know their jobs are at risk they may push themselves harder in extreme conditions leading to an increased risk of death and injury. With all of the impacts on the horizon, workers need policy and legal protections to prevent harm.

When considering how to protect migrant seasonal farmworkers, one question that arises is who is responsible for protecting their health and safety. As mentioned previously, the "Tiny Blue Houses" do not provide adequate housing for their farmworkers which puts them at increased risk of heat-related illness and other climate-related harms. Under appropriate supervision, one would expect these housing conditions to be better. 

So the question becomes who is the supervisor? In 1982, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene was responsible for the inspection and certification of farm worker housing ( Maryland Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1983 ). This department was renamed to the Department of Health in 2017, however the responsibility of housing inspection is nowhere to be found on their website ( Maryland State Archives, 2022 ). It is difficult to find who is responsible for inspecting farm worker housing when looking at Maryland policy. The  Migrant & Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act  (MSPA) offers more insights.

[...] No facility or real property may be occupied by any migrant agricultural worker unless either a State or local health authority or other appropriate agency has certified that the facility or property meets applicable safety and health standards. No person who owns or controls any such facility or property shall permit it to be occupied by any migrant agricultural worker unless a copy of the certification of occupancy is posted at the site. The receipt and posting of a certificate of occupancy does not relieve any person of responsibilities under subsection (a). Each such person shall retain the original certification for three years and shall make it available for inspection and review in accordance with section 512.

The MSPA tells us that the responsibility to inspect housing conditions falls onto the state or local health authority, but there is little to no mention of the health and safety of migrant farm workers on any Maryland agency website. Therefore, it is still not clear who in Maryland is responsible for the health and safety of migrant seasonal farm workers. We are left with two options: either the farm owners protect the workers or the workers protect themselves. And based on documentation from Maryland Legal Aid and eyewitness accounts, the employers of the “Tiny Blue Houses” farm workers delay medical services to their employees and threaten others who hope to provide assistance ( Legal Aid Bureau, Inc., 2012 ). This demonstrates that migrant workers at the “Tiny Blue Houses” have neither the federal government, the state government, nor their employers. Migrant seasonal farm workers must protect themselves from the hazards of climate change.

When it comes to the risks of extreme heat, there are few federal or state protections in place to protect migrant seasonal farm workers. However, in July of 2024, the US Department of Labor (DoL) released a proposed ruling to protect indoor and outdoor workers from the adverse health effects of exposure to extreme heat ( Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings, 2024 ). The standard applies protection to outdoor workers that apply to migrant seasonal farm workers including access to water, shade, breaks, and other measures to decrease the risk of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. However, the current draft legislation lacks specific enforcement mechanisms to ensure the protections are implemented.

In May of 2024, Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH) Advisory Board also published draft legislation on protecting outdoor workers from heat risks ( COMAR 09.12.32: Heat Stress Standards Draft, 2024 ). This regulation also provides many protections for outdoor workers from heat risk but lacks enforcement mechanisms similar to the DoL draft legislation. Both drafts speak to the need for communication and training for employees about the risks of extreme heat, but neither speaks to the need for materials provided in the first languages of farm workers. The drafts also only discuss protections for farm workers during work hours and do not discuss how to protect workers like farm workers living in employer-provided housing which needs to be high-quality to address the extreme heat conditions.

Climate change not only threatens the agriculture industry, but also the farm workers who make the industry run. The health and safety of migrant farm workers is at risk as climate change continues to increase the hazard and risks of farm work. Even as the impacts worsen, the regulations and protections for farm workers have not kept pace. With farm owners not stepping up, and federal and MD state governments falling behind, the majority of the burden falls on the migrant workers to protect themselves. Policy change is needed to protect this vulnerable population. While this change is underway, there is still much work to be done in order to ensure protections are up to standard.

This project is part of Research Employing Environmental Systems and Occupational Health Policy Analyses to Interrupt the Impact of Structural Racism on Agricultural Workers and Their Respiratory Health  (RESPIRAR)   with funding support from NIEHS. Wesley Wiggins is supported by UMD's  Urban Equity Collaborative .