A farmer who’s for fair pay for farmworkers
Right now, New York farmers like me are scrambling to make the most of the end of the summer season. While cycles vary depending on what crops you grow or livestock you raise, for most folks in agriculture, this time of year is all hands on deck.
That’s certainly true on my farm in the Hudson Valley, where we manage an orchard and vineyard and make natural wines and ciders. We would never have been able to scale our production to its current level or make it through the season without the help of our employee, Michael. He works in the vineyard and orchard and has been instrumental in our business growth.
But farmworkers like Michael aren’t getting the respect and protections they deserve.
This year, the New York State Department of Labor Wage Board finally took an important step to right historic wrongs when it voted to lower the overtime threshold for farmworkers to 40 hours per week over a 10-year period, meaning that after they work that many hours, they are eligible for time-and-a-half wages. This would bring farmworkers in line with virtually every other hourly worker in our state. And importantly, to address farmers’ concerns about increased labor costs, lawmakers passed a dollar-for-dollar tax credit that fully compensates farmers who pay their workers OT.
Despite Gov. Hochul’s generous tax credit and the Wage Board’s 10-year phase-in recommendation — the longest of any state that has moved to a 40-hour overtime threshold — the Farm Bureau and some oppositional farmers want to hold back the inevitable progress New York is marching toward. It’s been more than 80 years since farmworkers were initially denied the rights and protections that virtually every other worker in our state receives. It is time to act.
While the 40-hour workweek is standard for nearly all workers, farmworkers were intentionally excluded when southern segregationists in Congress demanded that FDR omit agricultural workers — largely Black workers at the time — from New Deal legislation. Even when New York later passed the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act in 2019, the legislation required paying overtime only after a grueling 60-hour workweek.
To be clear, no one is calling the Farm Bureau or my fellow farmers racist, but the original decision in the 1930s to exclude field hands from basic labor rights was racially motivated and that inequality must not be allowed to continue.
Nonetheless, the bureau, which claims to represent all New York farmers but in reality prioritizes only the largest farms, has said that implementing a 40-hour threshold will force growers out of business. This is simply not true. As a small farmer, I’ve already started to pay OT at the 40-hour threshold when it is needed on my farm, and I fully support and urge our government to make this a requirement. It is a matter of dignity and equality for workers.
Our state’s farmers have survived economic tumult for years as large farms consolidate the market, and an especially difficult last few years during the pandemic. That’s why this is an important moment for our leaders to help ensure everyone working in our industry, from small business owners to farmworkers, can earn fair pay.
Farming is backbreaking work, especially in the summer when we’re working from sunrise to sunset in the heat. Farmworkers currently are some of the lowest paid workers, despite their critical contributions to our food system. Without adequate pay or protections, the people planting and harvesting our food often struggle to put food on their own families’ tables.
Ironically, the Farm Bureau, which does not represent workers, has stated that lowering the OT threshold will hurt workers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Farmers like me know that choosing to limit the hours of some of our most skilled workers instead of paying them overtime would be financially foolish. In addition, all farmers know there is a worker shortage that is due in part to the low wages workers receive.
All the workers I know are in favor of lowering the overtime threshold. Bringing the threshold for farming in line with other industries would mean that farmworkers can earn the rest and pay they deserve, while farmers can benefit from a strong, competitive labor pool.
I’m eager for the new tax credit to kick in, and I’ll continue to grow my business and advocate for bold policies that support small farmers and our hardworking employees.
Meantime, Hochul and labor officials must move forward to immediately approve and implement the reduced farmworker overtime threshold. Only then will we be able to end this shameful vestige of Jim Crow and ensure equity and food security for New York moving forward.
Cavallo and his partner are small business owners of Wild Arc Farm in New York’s Hudson Valley.
