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Meeting will be held at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds
SACRAMENTO, July 23, 2012 – The California State Board of Food and Agriculture will address agricultural labor issues at its upcoming meeting on August 7, 2012. The meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Santa Cruz Country Fairgrounds (Harvest Hall), 2601 East Lake Avenue, Watsonville, CA 95076.
"Agricultural labor is about people, families and communities,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “The report California Ag Vision, Strategies for Sustainability calls for private sector initiatives, administrative measures and legislation to adopt a suite of policies and actions to assure a strong labor force through fairness to agricultural workers and employers. The food production that starts in the fields and orchards of California is highly reliant upon hand labor, and we need to take a strong leadership role to ensure we are responsive to the needs of employees and employers.” Scheduled speakers include: Carol House, Committee on National Statistics; Craig Regelbrugge, Agricultural Coalition for Immigration Reform; Monte Lake, CJ Lake, LLC; Guadalupe Sandoval, California Farm Labor Contractors Association; Jeanne Malitz, American Immigration Lawyers Association; Ellen Brokaw, Brokaw Nursery, LLC; Tom Collishaw, Self-Help Enterprises; and Manuel Cunha, Nisei Farmers League. "As farmers we struggle to meet our labor needs in the fields and this impacts consumers," said President Craig McNamara, California State Board of Food and Agriculture. “Unless we develop forward thinking solutions at the national level, we will see undesirable changes on supermarket shelves and in our farming communities.” -30- ![]() ![]() California Department of Food and Agriculture Office of Public Affairs
1220 N St., Ste. 214, Sacramento, CA 95814 916-654-0462, www.cdfa.ca.gov |
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