California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared August 26, 2024, as California Farmworker Day, highlighting the important role farmworkers play in ensuring a steady supply of fresh and nutritious food across the country.
“California’s farmworkers perform one of our most important jobs by ensuring fresh and nutritious food reaches our grocery stores, food banks and tables across the country. From Siskiyou County to the Imperial Valley, the hard work of these dedicated men and women helps make California the largest agricultural state and ensures a stable and secure food supply year-round,” Newsom said in a proclamation.
The document also praised farmworkers for their resilience, dedication and deep-rooted ties to their families and communities.
Newsom said farmworkers are not only critical to California’s agriculture, but also vital to the state’s prosperity and vitality.
“Today we also remember the hard-won progress of farmworkers and leaders like César Chávez, Dolores Huerta and Larry Itliong who fought tirelessly for workers’ rights,” he said in the proclamation. “Their efforts to secure better working and living conditions, the right to organize for fair pay and other protections contributed to the broader civil rights and labor movement and inspired an enduring legacy of advocacy that continues today.”
The governor pointed to recent state initiatives that have expanded opportunities for farmworkers to own homes, established new resource centers, enhanced workplace protections and increased access to health care and immigration legal assistance. These efforts are part of a broader collaboration with the state legislature, community organizations and stakeholders to promote and support farmworkers across the state, he said.
“We owe a deep debt of gratitude to the farmworkers who are the heart and soul of California and who sacrifice and contribute so much to our state,” Newsom said in the proclamation. “Today and every day, let us celebrate and recognize the lives and contributions of California’s farmworkers and recommit ourselves to extending the dream of prosperity, justice and progress to all.”
