Climate change is exposing food workers to intensifying health and safety risks, from extreme heat and toxic wildfire smoke to hazardous pesticide exposure, even as poverty wages and inadequate labour protections leave many unable to protect themselves, a new global report by the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), has found.
The report, released on October 5, says that nearly 1.4 billion people work across the global food system, but 30% (about 416 million people) earn below a living wage. It identifies climate change, corporate concentration, and widespread informal employment as forces deepening the exploitation of workers who grow, process, transport, sell and serve food.
A dangerous sector
Agriculture is among the world’s most dangerous sectors, accounting for one-third of all occupational deaths globally. Workers face hazards including extreme weather, long shifts without breaks and contact with harmful pesticides and chemicals. Heat stress is already the most common occupational health threat in agriculture, the report says, and climate change is escalating the risks into potentially life-threatening conditions.
Many farmworkers lack basic protection from extreme weather, including access to shade, rest breaks and drinking water, the report notes, adding that international labour standards are often ignored, while weak enforcement leaves workers exposed to dangerous conditions.
“Climate change is becoming a workers’ rights crisis,” said Mamadou Goïta, an IPES-Food panel expert in a webinar at the launch of the report. Farmworkers already face poverty wages, toxic pesticides and gruelling working conditions, which are being compounded by rising temperatures and other climate impacts, he said.
India’s climate-linked risks
The report highlights how climate-related livelihood losses in India can reinforce labour exploitation. Drought-driven crop failures have pushed tens of thousands of landless farmworkers into cycles of high-interest debt and bonded labour, it says. These debts can extend across generations, trapping families in exploitative working arrangements.
It also cites a study covering five Indian States that found farmer suicides increased significantly following droughts. The report links climate distress to the financial pressures faced by farming communities, particularly where workers lack adequate social protection.
Evidence from across India also points to how climate-related risks are affecting the health and livelihoods of workers in agriculture and fisheries. A study published in January 2026 in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine examined 200 male agricultural workers harvesting paddy in West Bengal during the summer of 2024 and found that the proportion experiencing dehydration rose from 16.5% to 33% over the observed work period. Higher heat exposure was also associated with greater physiological strain.
Meanwhile, a study published in April 2025 in the International Journal of Bio-resource and Stress Management examined the climate vulnerability of 400 small-scale fisher households in Ernakulam district, Kerala. It found that female-headed households had a higher livelihood vulnerability index (0.40) than male-headed households (0.37), showing how climate-related risks can intersect with gender inequalities and economic insecurity.
Health risks across the food chain
The IPES-Food report’s concerns are not limited to agricultural workers. Food workers across processing, hospitality and delivery face occupational hazards alongside insecure employment and limited access to basic protections.
Informal employment compounds these risks. Around 90% of agricultural employment and 60% to 80% of non-agricultural food employment worldwide is informal, the report notes. Informal workers earn, on average, only 56% of the monthly wages of formally employed workers and often lack access to health coverage, social security and labour protections.
Women, migrant workers and other marginalised groups face disproportionate risks, often working in the least protected jobs. Migrant workers may be reluctant to report unsafe conditions or abuse for fear of losing their jobs or facing immigration-related consequences, the report observes.
Raj Patel, an IPES-Food panel expert, in the webinar during the launch of the report, said the people who produce and deliver food were among the most exploited workers globally. Farmworkers, cooks and delivery riders face low pay, unsafe conditions, abuse and insecure work, he said, while powerful food corporations benefit from keeping labour cheap and workers powerless.
What is needed
The report calls for stronger labour standards, collective bargaining, better enforcement of workplace safety rules and equal rights for migrant workers. It also urges governments to address corporate concentration and hold companies accountable for abuses across food supply chains.
For food workers facing intensifying climate hazards, the report’s central concern is that those who sustain the food system are often left to bear its risks without adequate safeguards. It calls for a food system that does not depend on poverty wages, dangerous working conditions or the absence of basic labour protections.