Editor’s note: This is the second installment in a series examining pesticide use in one of the nation’s largest agricultural hubs – the Yuma area. Cronkite News expanded its original reporting by speaking with farmers, growers and farmworkers.

As the sun rises, patches of acreage come to life in the small yet bustling outskirts of Yuma. Tractors and crop vehicles are running, filling the air with noise. Thousands of workers set out to spray, test, thin and harvest thousands of pounds of crops.

Yuma County produces 90% of the nation’s lettuce during the winter months, a pace that growers say would be difficult to maintain without pesticides, even as organizations like Beyond Pesticides warn of their public health risks.

John Boelts, who co-owns and operates the family-run Desert Premiu

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