Assessing the Impact of Food Insecurity on Farm Workers’ Children Education

With California being one of the biggest producers in agricultural output, generating over $49.1 billion in agricultural cash receipts, the people who make up the workforce in agriculture are predominantly foreign-born as they have immigrated to the United States for better opportunities. It is often, however, that the same people who reap the fruits in the state with the most crops are facing food insecurity themselves. Children of these farmworkers suffer the consequences of being born into food-insecure homes. Food insecurity impacts not only the health of the children but education as well. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a correlation between food insecurity and a decline of school performance amongst children of farm workers and those students who are not children of farm workers. The survey conducted will be in a school with a high prevalence of free and price reduced meals and. Currently, there are significant difficulties to reduce the amount of food security such as accessibility to food programs, language, and education. This study would help provide for a way to break down these barriers and help non-profits optimize their reach to the communities to combat food insecurities by implementing communication maneuvers, diminishing stigma around programs, and providing access to food programs that would help contribute to food security in the farmworkers families. If non-profits are able to utilize the proper tools to reach out to the farmworkers, food insecurity would not play such a significant role in the educational performance of children with farmworker caregivers/guardians/parents