Assessing Effectiveness of the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner Safety Procedures Education

Safe Ag Safe Schools (SASS) is a local pesticide reform organization with members at the state and local levels aiming towards sustainable agricultural practices. SASS focuses on serving agriculturally working families and community members who reside near agricultural areas. The problem addressed by the capstone is that too many marginalized, low-income communities are facing environmental injustices produced by large corporation’s methods of generating revenue. These injustices include high risk of pesticide exposure due to inadequate training and access to equipment. The project focused on assessing farm workers’ knowledge regarding pesticide safety and decontamination procedures. The Office of the Monterey Agricultural Commissioner has the obligation to provide regular training and safety procedures. The project was implemented directly with SASS lead staff member(s). The findings suggest that the Office of the Monterey County Agricultural commissioner must provide effective training and safety procedures to agricultural laborers. Data collected from the assessment will benefit SASS by addressing the cause and hopefully campaign for effective training from Agricultural Commissioners statewide