Farmworkers and the Wealth of Wine Country

The contribution of Sonoma County’s farmworkers to creating wine country wealth is rarely acknowledged. Now that the grape harvest is over it is most appropriate to consider the wages and working conditions of vineyard workers. 

Nine out of 10 Sonoma County farmworkers are employed in the wine industry. Farm labor analyst Don Villarejo examined the U.S. Department of Agriculture 2017 Census and calculated the average hourly wage for a county farmworker employed directly by a farm operator for at least 150 days was $15.43 an hour; the weighted annual average income of all farmworkers who were employed by growers and farm labor contractors was $21,920.

The Department of Labor National Agricultural Survey reports that few California farmworkers are employed full-time in agriculture: on average, they work just 36 weeks annually. UC Davis economist Phillip Martin calculated that in 2015 the average California farmworker, employed primarily in agriculture, earned only $20,500. Three out of four California farmworkers had only one employer and just 15 percent crossed the border or migrated between California agricultural regions. 

Farmworkers and their families are working poor, belonging to one-third of the county workforce that cannot make ends meet. According to the California Budget and Policy Project, in 2017 two parents working full-time had to each earn $23.00 an hour or approximately $81,000 a year to support two children and pay for necessities—food, transportation, childcare, rental housing, and medical care. This very conservative estimate came before the county’s dramatic 35 percent spike of median rents following the 2017 Tubbs fire.

In 2018 Sonoma County growers and farm labor contractors employed approximately 11,060 vineyard workers according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. An overlooked 2015 Sonoma County Department of Health Services report (from interviews with nearly 300 county farmworkers) provides insights into the working conditions and health of county farmworkers:

+ Nine in ten vineyard workers surveyed were male, under the age of 40, born in Mexico and year-round county residents; 29 percent single; 24 percent married and living with a partner; 43 percent married and living with a partner and children.  

+ Just 30 percent of the farmworkers had health insurance provided by their employer, the state, or spouse’s plan; 44 percent indicated that their health is fair to poor.

 +Ten percent of the county’s farmworkers reported an injury or illness on the job, due to repetitive motion tasks, constant lifting and bending, pesticide poisoning, or prolonged exposure to heat and sunlight; 13 percent lacked consistent access to shelter and shade from the heat. 

 + Most Sonoma County vineyard workers lived in unsubsidized rental housing or apartments; only 14 percent had grower-provided worksite housing; 30 percent received some housing financial assistance from their employer. Housing is unaffordable for the vast majority of farmworkers, and they pay 30-60 percent of gross monthly income in rent; two-thirds of all county farmworkers lived in overcrowded housing due to high housing costs.

+In 2015 the Central Coast Alliance United for A Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) in Ventura County conducted a separate but similar study of that county’s farmworker population, and found that 60 percent of the 300 farm workers interviewed had experienced one form of wage theft in the previous year, and 23 percent had two or more thefts. This includes: pay for fewer hours than worked; less than time and a half pay for overtime; did not receive two legally mandated 10-minute breaks and a 30-minute lunch break; had to perform work tasks before clocking-in or after clocking-out.  

Last year the estimated value of Sonoma’s grape harvest was a record $2 billion. Sonoma and Napa produce most of California’s premium wines, which yield the highest profits. Premium wine production is dominated by a handful of global corporations: Constellation Brands, E and J Gallo, and The Wine Group.

Bank of America raised its entry-level minimum wage to $20 an hour by 2021. To make the Sonoma County wine industry more just, equitable, and sustainable, growers should do the same for all farmworkers, including those employed by labor contractors.

Martin J. Bennett is Instructor Emeritus of History at Santa Rosa Junior College and a member of North Bay Jobs with Justice.