The Industry Responds to the Passage of AB 2646; Casey Creamer and Dave Puglia Comment

FRESNO & IRVINE, CA - The California Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA) expressed disappointment following Governor Gavin Newsom’s signing of AB 2646, which establishes a new state wage requirement affecting H-2A agricultural and corresponding employees.

“California agriculture is already facing significant economic pressure, and adding costs without considering the entire farm economy will have consequences beyond the farm,” said CFFA President Casey Creamer in the recent release. “Supporting farmworkers and maintaining economically sustainable farms are not competing goals. We need both.”

Beginning January 1, 2027, AB 2646 establishes a $19.75 hourly wage for H-2A employees and corresponding employees performing the same work for the same employer in the same county, with annual adjustments thereafter.

“California growers compete in a global marketplace against producers with significantly different costs and standards, and our growers generally cannot pass increased costs on to their customers,” Creamer said. “If we continue making it more difficult to produce food here, we risk shifting more of our food supply to foreign production. That does not help California farmworkers, our rural communities or our long-term food security.”

CFFA joined a broad coalition of agricultural organizations requesting a veto of AB 2646 and submitted its own veto request to Governor Newsom.

“A healthy agricultural economy supports everyone in the supply chain—growers, farmworkers, packinghouse employees, truck drivers, salespeople and the rural communities that depend on agriculture,” Creamer added. “CFFA will continue working with policymakers on practical solutions that strengthen California agriculture and allow the people who depend on it to succeed.”

Western Growers also issued the following statement in response to Gov. Gavin Newsom signing AB 2646 into law:

“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," said Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia. "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 percent of our family farms in the last 25 years. That is because of the economic injuries that have been caused by foolish public policies. Californians are proud of our state's farmers. They deserve better from Sacramento."