Mexico and California have been bound together historically before there were borders that delineated a colonial separation. That connection continues today and never more deeply than through agriculture. According to the California Chamber of Commerce, of the $61.5 billion of goods imported from Mexico to California in 2023, Mexican agricultural products ranked the third top import category at $7 billion after transportation equipment ($14.7 billion) and computer and electronic products ($13.5 billion). Among farmworkers in California, it is estimated that 90% were born in Mexico. This inextricable link inspired Federico Castillo, Ph.D.–lecturer and environmental/agricultural economist in UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management–to launch the UC-Mexico Farm Labor Research Cluster.

Dr. Castillo had worked with his colleague, Dr. Armando Sánchez Vargas, professor of economics at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) on statistical analyses about migration and the impact of environmental drivers like climate change on farm labor productivity. He also has worked with the University of California Alianza MX initiative, a UC system-wide program supporting engagement with Mexico on research. Dr. Castillo felt there was an opportunity to create a more formal collaboration between researchers in California and Mexico specifically around farm labor and the environment. “Climate change doesn't stop at the border,” says Dr. Castillo. “You get a heat wave and it just goes right by and it impacts people on both sides of the border. Drought, same thing. Chemical exposure, same thing. So, we have a commonality of topics and research issues that we need to join forces and do some research that is meaningful to both countries, not only the academic perspective.”

As such, Dr. Castillo and his colleagues were awarded funding from a UC Alianza MX grant opportunity to support a two-year project that would sow the seeds of collaboration in 2023. The goals of the program are:

• To establish a multidisciplinary UC-Mexico research working group composed of experts in public health, environmental/agricultural economics, agronomy, law, climate change, and Indigenous studies to specifically look at the environmental impacts on the well-being of farmworkers
• To produce scholarly work reflecting the research relationship
• To develop a sustainable farm labor research funding strategy for both regions
• To incorporate research findings into policy on both sides of the border
• To increase collaborative student-led research in both regions

The first in-person meeting held Spring 2024 at Casa de la Universidad de California in Mexico City set the foundation where the group established a research agenda. Over 30 researchers and representatives from community-based organizations from Mexico worked to define the four pillars of study that were relevant in both places: agricultural production, data and technology, law and migration, and community and health. Currently, there are nearly 50 people (both researchers and representatives from Mexican community-based organizations) who are a part of the cluster dedicated to these four pillars including UCGHI Center for Planetary Health Co-Director, Dr. Sam Ying, UCGHI affiliated faculty, Drs. Matt Sparke and Carlos Martinez from UC Santa Cruz, and UCGHI Center for Planetary Health student researcher, Moncerrat Hernandez from UC Berkeley.

Dr. Castillo is looking forward to the next meeting in November 2024. While the first meeting and the subsequent virtual gatherings in between were more about establishing the cluster, this second meeting will be geared toward implementing action. “Now we're ready for those who are involved in the research and for the community-based organizations to tell the group what exactly they're working on and how they want to extend their work to Mexico, and which partners they can engage with in Mexico,” says Dr. Castillo. “So that would be the second meeting to formalize those ties the best that we can.”

Dr. Castillo sees this as just the beginning of the California-Mexico partnership. He hopes their work will become a UC-wide Institute eventually. “I want to find a permanent space, a more sustainable space, and have meetings alternating between Mexico and the UC campuses, where people share the research,” he says. From there, this will result research, dissemination, and joint manuscripts that would ultimately improve the well-being of farmworkers on both sides of the border. Ultimately, he says, “[I] would like to see the outcome of the partnership impacting agriculture and policy in both the U.S. and Mexico.”