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Farm Workers Don’t Reap What They Sow
Agricultural workers are a critical part of California’s $26 billion a year agriculture industry and are responsible for half of the country’s agricultural production. However, the people who tend and harvest these crops face serious health and nutrition needs. To assess the overall health status of California’s agricultural workers, The California Endowment commissioned a baseline study — The California Agricultural Worker Health Survey — and hired us to promote those findings.
Working within an extremely tight time frame (30 days from concept to execution), Brown·Miller Communications developed a communications plan to release this study and create attention that would motivate community members, policymakers and farmers to address this critical issue. In order to maximize the impact of the study's findings, the agency planned the release of the findings around the Thanksgiving holiday. The juxtaposition of that traditional celebration of our nation's bounty with findings showing the poor health of the people who created that bounty proved to be an effective hook, leading to extensive state and national coverage. Despite the unplanned announcement by the Florida Supreme Court giving the presidency to George Bush, the release captured national media attention and became fodder for Thanksgiving sermons from pulpits throughout the state. In the months following the release, 20 notable agricultural, health, labor and political leaders volunteered to form a blue ribbon task force to address the pressing issues raised by this groundbreaking study. The study also sparked discussion between former California Governor Gray Davis and Vicente Fox, president of Mexico.
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