It’s not an understatement to say that California’s farmworkers feed America. The Central Valley alone grows more than 250 different crops—holding an estimated value of $17 billion per year—and account for one-fourth of all food that makes it to kitchen tables across the country.[i]
Yet despite their tremendous contributions, California’s farmworkers are at the frontlines of the climate crisis with little government support. Nine of the state’s 10 biggest wildfires have occurred within the past decade, forcing farmworkers to choose between working through hazardous conditions or going without pay.[ii] Record rainfall has taken a toll on farmworker towns like Pajaro, where flooding led thousands of residents to evacuate earlier this month. And a mass shooting in Half Moon Bay put a spotlight on the unattended mental health needs of farmworkers, many who experience significant stress due to deplorable housing conditions and food insecurity.
The decades-long struggle to defend farmworker dignity is far from over.
This year, we can honor the legacy of people like Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Larry Itliong by ensuring the workers that grow our food and keep us fed can tap into the state’s safety net when disaster strikes. Two bills making their way in the State Legislature would do just that:
- • SB 227 would provide workers who are excluded from unemployment insurance solely due to their immigration status with temporary financial assistance.
- • SB 245/AB 311 is a bicameral effort that aims to expand eligibility for state-funded nutrition benefits to Californians of all ages that are currently excluded due solely to their immigration status.
Community-based organizations like ALAS (Ayudando Latinos a Soñar), the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Líderes Campesinas, and the Dolores Huerta Foundation have demonstrated great leadership in times of immense hardship. They are helping farmworker communities to heal, while leveraging state and federal resources to address farmworker housing, food, and mental health needs. But our elected officials can do more.
As California continues a path to recovering from years of hardship caused by the pandemic, passing state legislation to bolster the financial security of those that never stopped working to keep our state and nation fed is the right thing to do.
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[i] https://ca.water.usgs.gov/projects/central-valley/about-central-valley.html#:~:text=Using%20fewer%20than%201%25%20of,nuts%2C%20and%20other%20table%20foods.
[ii] https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/unprecedented-levels-high-severity-fire-burn-sierra-nevada-forests#:~:text=A%20severe%20decade,that%20burned%20at%20high%20severity.
By: Eduardo Garcia, Senior Policy Manager
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