Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) introduced the Disaster Relief for Farm Workers Act to provide compensation for farm workers who lose out on wages due to extreme weather, public health emergencies, and other disasters beyond their control. Representatives Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.-06) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.-18) are leading companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

California is home to as many as 800,000 year-round and seasonal farm workers who help power the state’s $59 billion agricultural economy, yet despite their contributions to the local, regional, and national economies, there are few protections for the farm workforce. The California agricultural economy faced almost $4 billion in damages from 2023 to 2024, and that’s without even accounting for flooded farm worker homes in Pajaro or lost farm worker income. Existing federal disaster relief programs insufficiently compensate farm workers when they lose wages as a result of conditions out of their control.

“California’s farm workers often work under extreme conditions to help put food on the table for hundreds of millions of Americans,” said Senator Padilla. “But increasingly frequent natural disasters, including historic flooding in Pajaro, have devastated California’s agricultural communities. We must protect the heart of our nation’s food supply by providing critical emergency assistance to these essential workers.”

“Agriculture is the backbone of Colorado’s economy and central to our Western way of life, but as climate-fueled disasters become increasingly common, our state’s farm workers are paying the price,” said Senator Bennet. “Our bill will help ensure the people that grow America’s fruits, vegetables, and other crops get the assistance they need in the wake of emergencies like drought, wildfires, and other natural disasters.”

“Extreme weather and natural disasters are only getting worse with climate change. Unfortunately, many of the hardworking individuals who grow and harvest our food do not receive direct financial support when they are forced to miss work and lose wages as a result of these disasters,” said Representative Salinas. “My legislation would finally correct this injustice by providing federal disaster relief for farmworkers. This change is well-deserved and long-overdue, and I will continue to advocate for the brave men and women who help feed America.”

“When extreme weather occurs, farmworkers across our country continue to feed the nation. And yet, these essential workers and their families face great uncertainty when unexpected disasters harm their communities and livelihood. For example, hundreds of farmworkers in my congressional district faced displacement and lost wages after severe flooding devastated the Pajaro community in early 2023. We owe them – and all farmworkers – more. The Disaster Relief for Farm Workers Act ensures America’s indispensable farmworkers can receive disaster relief funding they need and have earned,” said Representative Lofgren.

The Disaster Relief for Farm Workers Act would address this problem by providing direct relief funding for farm workers. Specifically, this bill would:

• Make grants available to eligible farm worker organizations to provide emergency relief to farm workers affected by a disaster.
• Ensure the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) develops and executes a promotional plan prior to and throughout the distribution of the relief grants to increase awareness of the assistance available.
• Require USDA to work with eligible farm worker organizations.
• Provide definitions for a covered disaster, eligible farm worker organization, and migrant or seasonal farm worker.
• Amend Section 2281 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to allow for emergency assistance for farm workers.

The legislation is endorsed by the following organizations: A Better Balance, Alianza Americas, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP), Borderlands Resource Initiative, California Human Development, Campesinos Sin Fronteras, Care in Action, CASA of Oregon, Center for Employment Training, Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), Central Valley Opportunity Center, Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc (CDM), Child Labor Coalition, CHILDREN AT RISK, CIERTO, Civic Empowerment Coalition, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Columbia Legal Services, CRLA Foundation, Davidson County Local Food Network, El Futuro es Nuestro, Farm Worker Ministry Northwest, Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project-FLAP, Farmworker Housing Development Corporation (FHDC), Farmworker Justice, Food Empowerment Project, GALEO Impact Fund, Hand in Hand/Mano en Mano, Hispanic Affairs Project, Hispanic Federation, Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), Latino Outdoors, League of Conservation Voters, Make the Road CT, Make the Road NJ, Make the Road NV, Make the Road NY, Make the Road PA, Make the Road States, Michiganders for a Just Farming System, National Association of Social Workers, National Association of Social Workers – Florida and Virgin Islands Chapter, National Consumers League, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Employment Law Project, National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association, NC FIELD, Inc., NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, North Carolina Council of Churches, North Carolina Farmworker Advocacy Network, North Carolina Justice Center, Nourish Up, Opportunity Arizona, Oregon Human Development Corporation, Organización en California de Lideres Campesinas, Inc, PCUN, Oregon’s Farmworker Union, Pesticide Action and Agroecology Network (PAN), Popular Democracy, Presente.org, Progress Michigan, Proteus Inc., Puente de la Costa Sur, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), Slow Food USA, Student Action with Farmworkers, Sur Legal Collaborative, TODEC Legal Center, Toxic Free North Carolina, UFW Foundation, Unidos Yamhill County, United Farm Workers, and Voces Unidas de las Montañas.

“Farm workers are always on the front lines of fires, floods, and storms — yet are too often excluded from federal disaster relief programs,” said Teresa Romero, President of United Farm Workers (UFW). “If the federal government can provide emergency support to farm owners who lose crops in natural disaster, then the federal government can emergency provide support to farm workers who lose work in that same disaster. The Disaster Relief for Farm Workers Act will ensure that farm workers who put food on all our tables can continue to put food on their family’s table when disaster strikes.”

“Every year we see an alarming number of natural disasters that drastically and disproportionately impact the farm worker community. As climate change gets worse, these types of disasters will only worsen and farm workers are the ones who are affected the most by these calamities. Just last year, we saw heavy California rains flooding Ventura County farm areas and Hurricane Helen devastating Georgia’s farm worker communities, leading to organizations like ours stepping up to do what we can. But that is not enough. We must have a federal response to these kinds of disasters. From wildfires to tornadoes to hurricanes, farm workers have little to no safety net to help them recover from unexpected disasters,” said Erica Lomeli Corcoran, Chief Executive Officer at UFW Foundation. “This is exactly why the UFW Foundation is supporting the Disaster Relief for Farm Workers Act. It would provide resources and aid to those who truly need it and would ensure that those responsible for our nation’s food supplies are not overlooked, as they have been in the past. Farm workers have been largely ignored and neglected by the law, shut out from basic protections provided to all workers. It is time that Congress acts and ensures that our nation’s farm workers are given the support they need to overcome times of emergencies and to provide equity to all workers.” 

“Farmworkers are frontline workers, which means they are the hardest hit by the impacts of extreme weather conditions across the country. Many farmworkers feel that they are risking their health with extreme heat and colder days, but losing even one day of work is not an option for their families’ economic situation. Outdoor protections are important, yet there are days that are becoming too extreme to even be outside. Our vision is to be a resilient workforce for the agricultural industry. Disaster relief means we can start investing in addressing the issues that workers are facing today by building resilience for climate change in the future, without sacrificing the economic well-being of farmworkers,” said Reyna Lopez, Executive Director of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noreste (PCUN).

Senator Padilla has fought hard to deliver relief to agricultural communities devastated by natural disasters. Earlier this year, Padilla announced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to improve access to federal agriculture disaster programs. Padilla also introduced the Smoke Exposure Research Act, legislation to better protect winegrape growers against wildfire smoke damage by strengthening research and risk management efforts at West Coast land-grant universities. Last year, he led a bipartisan coalition of California members in urging the Senate and House Agriculture Committees to incorporate permanent disaster assistance for agricultural producers and communities in the Farm Bill. The letter called for the inclusion of his bipartisan Agricultural Emergency Relief Act, which would create a permanent structure at the USDA to provide relief for farmers who lost crops due to natural disasters. Previously, Padilla introduced a pair of bills to equip the USDA to better meet the needs of farm workers. He also introduced the Fairness for Farm Workers Act last Congress to update the nation’s labor laws to ensure farm workers receive fairer wages and compensation.

Full text of the bill is available here.

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