Asking for more: Farmworkers and allies push for a countywide $26 minimum wage

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The sounds of shrieking roller coaster riders clashed with protesters’ drums, tambourines, and chants at this year’s Santa Maria Strawberry Festival.

On April 27, community members of various ages gathered outside of Santa Maria Fairpark to rally for a Santa Barbara countywide $26 per hour minimum wage for farmworkers.

Alianza Campesina de la Costa Central, a local farmworkers coalition, organized the rally in collaboration with the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) and other nonprofits. A crowd of about 100 attended the protest, including Jacinta Cervantes.

“I think it’s important to be part of this moment,” Cervantes told the Sun. “I’ve been here in Santa Maria about 20 years and worked in the fields about 18 years.”

Protest organizers point to the cost of living as one of the reasons they were calling for a $26 wage. A mother of six, Cervantes said she sided with the rally’s aim because a wage increase could help her save some income for her children to pursue higher education. One of her sons is also a fieldworker.

“I want my son to have a better condition. And a better path of getting education,” she said. “I’m very proud to be part of this rally. If we ever get to that point [of a $26 wage], I will feel even more proud of myself to be part of this.”

Cervantes walked about 2 miles to the Fairpark alongside others from the rally’s starting point: CAUSE’s Santa Maria headquarters on South Broadway. The nonprofit also has chapters in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, and Santa Paula.

In early 2024, CAUSE partnered with the Mixteco Indígena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) on a report comparing farmworkers’ average wages to those of truck drivers and construction workers based in Santa Barbara County.

CAUSE Santa Maria Senior Policy Advocate Erica Diaz Cervantes said that the three industries share similar statistics related to the risk of death and injury for workers while on duty, which makes the average wage disparity between local farmworkers ($17.42) and truck drivers and construction workers ($26.76 and $25.05, respectively) stand out, according to the report.

“Farm labor wages right now are extremely low compared to those kinds of sectors,” Diaz Cervantes said. “Workers are struggling to pay for housing; pay for their food; pay for child care; buy the very produce that they pick.”

Diaz Cervantes hopes that events like the April 27 protest and hearings with elected officials help “show the faces behind these numbers” in the report—“Harvesting Dignity: The Case for a Living Wage for Farmworkers.”

In August 2024, several farmworkers cited the report at a Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting and asked for the $26 wage that CAUSE, MICOP, and Alianza Campesina continue to campaign for.

Those requests led 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann and former 1st District Supervisor Das Williams to propose creating an ad hoc advisory committee dedicated to farmworker conditions. Supervisors later voted 5-0 for Hartmann and Williams to serve on a temporary committee but not before hearing backlash against the $26 wage from some farm industry officials.

Santa Maria Fairpark Board President and Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau member Kevin Merrill spoke during the board’s Sept. 10, 2024, meeting and agreed that a committee should be formed to study farmworker living conditions, but he opposed the wage increase.

“If [the board] adopts this $26 proposal, they will not be helping the people they want to, as growers in Santa Barbara County will simply not be able to offer jobs at $26 an hour rate,” Merrill said. “You are opening yourself up to other industries that view themselves as worthy to the increase as well. … Where do we stop when we start going down this road? And why are we penalizing one of the biggest employers in the county?”

The Sun reached out to Merrill for comment about the April 27 rally, but he was unable to speak before press time.

In December 2024, the ad hoc committee concluded that the county should tackle high housing costs and housing shortages impacting farmworkers instead of implementing the $26 wage.

Since then, Hartmann has “continued to engage in efforts to improve farmworker housing opportunities,” Santa Barbara County Public Information Officer Kelsey Gerckens Buttitta told the Sun via email.

Williams lost his bid for reelection last year, but one of his final initiatives on the dais “was to ensure that farmworker housing projects were prioritized on the Planning and Development Department’s work plan,” Gerckens Buttitta added. That plan was adopted 5-0 by the Board of Supervisors during its April 8 meeting.

Claire Wineman, president of the Grower-Shipper Association of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, described the wage proposal as “carefully considered and rightly rejected” by county officials.

“Regulating a local minimum wage would cost local farmworkers and others their jobs, and hurt other local businesses, consumers, and the county economy as a whole,” Wineman told the Sun via email. “The county instead focused on other efforts that will positively impact the lives of farmworkers, including housing. … We support focusing on win-win outcomes for our community and protecting a future for agriculture and farmworker jobs in Santa Barbara County.”

CAUSE advocate Diaz Cervantes also called the county’s focus on approving farmworker housing projects a win, “but at the same time, it was also a deflection from the larger issue that we’re advocating for.”

“The thing that we’re all trying to express is urgency. Housing developments take years to be able to implement. That is a whole process in itself. It is a small step in the right direction, but it doesn’t meet workers’ needs as of right now,” Diaz Cervantes said. “Even though [the board] didn’t pass an ordinance for a living wage, it is still something that we’re continuing to fight for this year because we know it takes time.

Reach Senior Staff Writer Caleb Wiseblood at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.

This article appears in May 1-11, 2025.