Golden State Today

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring August 26, 2024, as "California Farmworker Day."

The text of the proclamation is as follows:

PROCLAMATION

California’s farmworkers serve one of our most vital roles by ensuring our grocery stores, food banks, and tables across the nation are supplied with fresh and nutritious food. From Siskiyou County to the Imperial Valley, the hard work of these dedicated men and women helps make California the largest agricultural state and provides a stable and secure food supply year-round.

Farmworkers represent the best of California, embodying resilience, drive, and a deep love for their families and communities. Farmworkers are not only the backbone of our state; they strengthen our communities through wide-ranging contributions to society and the diverse heritage of our state. From landmark social movements to food, music, and art, this community is foundational to the prosperity and vitality of California as we know it.

Today we also reflect on the hard-won progress achieved by farmworkers and leaders like César Chávez, Dolores Huerta, and Larry Itliong who fought tirelessly for workers’ rights. Their efforts to secure better working and living conditions, the right to organize for fair pay and other protections contributed to the wider civil rights and labor movements and inspired a lasting legacy of advocacy that continues to this day.

California is committed to supporting and uplifting our agricultural communities. The state in recent years has expanded opportunities for farmworker homeownership, created new farmworker resource centers, advanced protections in the workplace and worker outreach, opened new labor rights enforcement offices in the Central Valley, expanded immigration legal assistance and job training, and extended health care access to low-income Californians of all ages regardless of immigration status. These and other efforts continue in partnership with the Legislature, community-based organizations, and stakeholders to better support our farmworkers.

We owe a deep debt of gratitude to the farmworkers at the heart and soul of California who sacrifice and contribute so much to our state. Today and every day let us celebrate and acknowledge the lives and contributions of California’s farmworkers and rededicate ourselves to extending the dream of prosperity, equity, and progress to all.

NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California do hereby proclaim August 26, 2024 as “California Farmworker Day.”

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand caused Great Seal State California affixed this 26th day August 2024.

GAVIN NEWSOM

Governor of California

ATTEST:

SHIRLEY N. WEBER Ph.D.

Secretary of State