Farmworker Women Applaud Historical Changes to Farm Bill, Hopeful for Future

WASHINGTON D.C. - Alianza is pleased to read language in the Senate’s proposal of the Farm Bill that specifically addresses farmworker needs and hopes. For far too long, farmworkers have been neglected when it comes to this critical omnibus legislation that regulates most facets of our food and farm system, from conservation policy and pricing, to nutrition and food aid. Featuring farmworker needs - particularly through revising the Farmworker Coordinator position - is an important first step in improving the lives of our country’s two to three million agricultural workers.

In terms of details, the legislation renames the current position of Farmworker Coordinator within the Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement, to Farm and Food System Workforce Coordinator. Besides including food system workers to the Coordinator’s perview, additional duties for the Coordinator are listed, including those related to improved reporting and advising capacities. Concerning advising, a new committee would be created to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on how to improve farmworker and food system worker safety, as well as access to agricultural education opportunities and job training. Other changes include requiring the Secretary to establish a Farm and Food System Workforce Interagency Council to facilitate interagency, cabinet-level leadership in planning, policymaking, coordination, and program development for services available to farm and food system workers. The legislation authorizes necessary appropriations for carrying out these new provisions from 2025 through 2029.

Created first in the 2008 Farm Bill, the office of Farmworker coordinator has been relatively neglected in terms of staffing and resources over the years. These changes and others - summarized here - would bolster the office, dedicating critical attention to improving how the government connects with the millions of essential workers who make America’s farms operate.

To be conferenced with the House version of the bill, which most likely will be different on many points, we hope that these provisions concerning farmworkers find their way into final legislation. The current Farm Bill, which was set to expire last year before receiving a one year extension, could become law as soon as September of this year before the election season begins.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PARA PUBLICACION INMEDIATA : February 6, 2024

CONTACT / CONTACTO : Yamiles Nunez, Social Media and Communications Specialist, yamiles.nunez@campesinasunite.org (832) 427-7234

Celebrate Farmworker Awareness Week, Learn from Women Leaders

Alianza Nacional de Campesinas (Alianza), a leading advocacy organization representing farmworker women across the nation, is proud to stand with our country’s 2 to 3 million farmworkers during National Farmworker Awareness Week. We take this time annually, during the last week of March, to not only draw attention to the many challenges that farmworkers face - especially the roughly ⅓ of us who are women - but also to celebrate our resiliency and strength in the face of gender-based violence, economic exploitation, and environmental injustice.

We are especially excited to showcase the voices of three of our organization's leaders - Hormis Bedolla, Elvira Carvajal and Claudia Quezada - who spoke with Forum for the Future, which featured their stories in a recently published blog post about our Madre Tierra Project.

Our Madre Tierra Project, which began in 2021, includes farmworker women from La Mujer Obrera (TX), Líderes Campesinas (CA), Mujeres Divinas (NY), Mujeres Luchadores Progresistas (OR), Campesinos Sin Fronteras (AZ), and the Farm Worker Association of Florida (FL).

Together, these groups from around the United States feature the ancestral knowledge and experience that farmworker women have within our communities to grow their own food in community gardens and personal plots. Collectively, they directly confront the challenges facing socially disadvantaged farmers, tribal and other land-based peoples, through farming without chemicals and learning best practices in monthly meetings and encounters with one another.

As Hormis, Elvira, and Claudia emphasize in their stories, many farmworker women struggle daily to grow food for our country, having to use toxic chemicals that contaminate our land and water, as well as harm themselves and family members. Despite the problems that pesticide exposure has caused, these three strong, dedicated farmworker advocates are leading the charge in calling for more regulations as they create opportunities for farmworkers to become farmers and grow food in healthy and sustainable ways.

Besides learning about their stories by reading the blog, you can also stand with our organization’s membership by contacting your local representatives with key policy positions that would help farmworker women. Some of these policies include: Protect America's Children from Toxic Pesticides Act (which closes important loopholes in pesticide regulation and prohibits the use of key chemicals), Supporting Our Farm and Food System Workforce Act and The Voice for Farm Workers Act (which strengthens the Farmworker Coordinator office to elevate farmworker needs within the USDA), the BAN OPs From Our Food Act (which bans one particular family of insecticides, organophosphates), and the Asunción Valdivia Heat Stress Injury, Illness, and Fatality Prevention Act (S. 2501 / HR 4897) (which creates a nationwide heat stress standard to improve farmworker conditions).

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Celebre la Semana de Concientización sobre lxs Trabajadorxs Agrícolas y aprenda de las mujeres líderes

Alianza Nacional de Campesinas (Alianza), una organización de defensa líder que representa a las mujeres campesinas en todo el país, se enorgullece de apoyar a los 2 a 3 millones de campesinos de nuestro país durante la Semana Nacional de Concientización sobre lxs Trabajadorxs Agrícolas. Aprovechamos este momento anualmente, durante la última semana de marzo, no solo para llamar la atención sobre los muchos desafíos que enfrentan los campesinxs, especialmente las aproximadamente ⅓ de nosotras que somos mujeres, sino también para celebrar nuestra resiliencia y fortaleza frente la violencia de género, la explotación económica y la injusticia ambiental.

Estamos especialmente emocionadas de elevar las voces de tres líderes de nuestra organización, Hormis Bedolla, Elvira Carvajal y Claudia Quezada, que hablaron con Forum for the Future, quien presentó sus historias en un blog recientemente publicado sobre nuestro Proyecto Madre Tierra.

Nuestro Proyecto Madre Tierra, que comenzó en 2021, incluye La Mujer Obrera (TX), Líderes Campesinas (CA), Mujeres Divinas (NY), Mujeres Luchadores Progresistas (OR), Campesinos Sin Fronteras (AZ) y la Asociación de Trabajadores Agrícolas de Florida (FL).

Juntos, estos grupos de todo Estados Unidos presentan el conocimiento y la experiencia ancestral que las mujeres campesinas tienen dentro de nuestras comunidades para cultivar sus propios alimentos en huertos comunitarios y personales. Colectivamente, enfrentan directamente los desafíos que enfrentan lxs agricultorxs, tribus y otros pueblos socialmente desfavorecidos, a través de la agricultura sin productos químicos y el aprendizaje de mejores prácticas en reuniones mensuales y encuentros.

Como enfatizan Hormis, Elvira y Claudia en sus historias, muchas mujeres campesinas luchan diariamente para cultivar alimentos para nuestro país, teniendo que usar químicos tóxicos que contaminan nuestra tierra y agua, además de dañarse a ellas mismas y a sus familias. A pesar de los problemas que ha causado la exposición a los pesticidas, estas tres firmes y dedicadas defensoras de lxs campesinxs están liderando la lucha para exigir más regulaciones a medida que crean oportunidades para que lxs campesinxs se conviertan en agricultores y cultiven alimentos de manera saludable y sostenible.

Además de conocer sus historias leyendo el blog, también puede apoyar a las miembras de nuestra organización contactando a sus representantes locales con posiciones políticas clave que ayudarían a campesinas. Algunas de estas políticas incluyen: Ley para Proteger a los Niños de Estados Unidos de Pesticidas Tóxicos (que cierra lagunas importantes en la regulación de pesticidas y prohíbe el uso de productos químicos clave), Ley de Apoyo a la Fuerza Laboral de Nuestro Sistema Agrícola y Alimentario y Ley de Voz para los Trabajadores Agrícolas (que fortalece la Ley de los Trabajadores Agrícolas Oficina del Coordinador para elevar las necesidades de los trabajadores agrícolas dentro del USDA), la Ley BAN OPs From Our Food Act (que prohíbe una familia particular de insecticidas, organofosforados) y la Ley de Prevención de Lesiones, Enfermedades y Fatalidades por Estrés por Calor de Asunción Valdivia (S. 2501/HR 4897) (que crea una norma nacional sobre estrés por calor para mejorar las condiciones de los trabajadores agrícolas).

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