Dole Food Co. Inc. has agreed in principle to settle the pesticide claims of more than 5,000 former banana workers in South America and Central America who are represented by Beaumont-based Provost Umphrey.

Provost Umphrey is one of several law firms that have brought suits against Dole and other companies claiming that their use of a pesticide called dibromochloropropane, or DBCP, on banana plantations during the 1970s and 1980s caused the workers to become sterile.