Agriculture organizations expressed strong disapproval at the passage of a California law establishing a minimum hourly wage of at least $19.75 next year for many agricultural workers in the state. This is nearly a 17% increase from the state’s current minimum wage of $16.90.
Assembly Bill 2646, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, establishes the $19.75 minimum wage for certain temporary and seasonal agricultural workers hired from outside California, including H-2A workers. The wage also applies to California employees performing the same or substantially similar work for the same employer in the same county.
The law will take effect Jan. 1, 2027. Beginning in 2028, the $19.75 baseline will automatically adjust each January, scaled directly to the federal cost-of-living adjustment applied to Social Security benefits.
“California citrus growers depend on a skilled agricultural workforce, but this law imposes another significant labor cost at a time when growers are already confronting rising costs across nearly every part of their operations,” said California Citrus Mutual Director of Governmental Affairs Jacob Villagomez. “California growers compete in a global marketplace. Every additional cost makes it harder to keep producing fresh citrus here in California, supporting farm jobs and sustaining the rural communities that depend on agriculture.”
Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia’s assessment of the bill was blunter.
“California families are burdened by the nation’s highest cost of living and yet we now have another new economically stupid mandate imposed on the state’s farmers in the form of AB 2646,” Puglia said. “None of our state’s farmers can simply absorb this new higher wage mandate. Some larger family farm businesses may be able to pass along this new labor cost to their grocery chain customers, who will pass it on to consumers already struggling with affordability challenges. Most farmers, however, cannot absorb or pass along this dramatic wage increase. They have been beaten down by California’s higher operating costs and watched their grocery chain customers choose farmers in other states and countries where the same fresh foods can be grown at a lower cost.
“Next time you hear people in Sacramento talk about their love of California’s farms and the wonderful food we grow here, remember that we have lost nearly 30% of our family farms in the last 25 years. That is because of the economic injuries that have been caused by foolish public policies.”
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