To Help Farmworkers Get COVID-19 Tests And Vaccine, Build Trust And A Safety Net

With more than 20 million acres of corn and soybeans, Illinois is among the top U.S. producers of both those crops. To make it all happen, the state relies on thousands of farmworkers — some who travel to the state for seasonal work and others, like 35-year-old Saraí, who call Illinois home.

Being an agricultural worker "is the most beautiful thing," Saraí says in an interview in Spanish. NPR agreed to identify her only by her first name because she's undocumented.

Saraí has spent much of the past decade cultivating crops in central Illinois, and moved to the U.S. from Mexico to find work that would allow her to better support her family; since the onset of the pandemic she's spent most of her time shepherding her three kids through their virtual school classes.

There have been tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases and hundreds of deaths reported among U.S. farmworkers and meat plant workers. Because there isn't an official tracking system in place, these figures — based largely on media reports — are likely an undercount.