Thank farmworkers with (3) actions that make a difference.

Type in your address and find out your pesticide risk in Ventura County here.

Action #1: 12/14/2023 – VENTURA – Attend a meeting! Pesticide Notification Public Hearing In Ventura (4:30 pm) Ventura County Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa Hall, 10 West Harbor Blvd., Ventura.

On Thursday afternoon, we have an opportunity locally to speak out for Environmental Justice, calling for the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) to protect farmworkers (and schoolchildren, and the rest of us!) from fumigant pesticide exposure. DPR is taking comments regarding their statewide program for notification of the application of certain pesticides–we must let them know that their system needs to be more specific than they have planned right now.

Public health data show that the incident of childhood asthma is increasing, and in part that’s because fumigant pesticides are all too frequently applied without us knowing it. We all breathe the same air. We all need to be protected from fumigant pesticide exposure. DPR needs to step up and do that.

• NOTIFICATION: Demand that the proposed notification system inform the public of the exact location, date, and time that a pesticide will be applied so that adequate protective precautions can be taken.
• RECOMMENDED SAFETY PRECAUTIONS: Farmworkers need to know if protective clothing should be worn and specific behaviors engaged in to keep their exposure risk minimal.
• CHILD SAFETY: Schools need to know when to warn families that airborne pesticides are going to be wafting through the environment from nearby agricultural fields, threatening their children’s well-being.

Please add your thoughts regarding this issue in person at the Ventura County Fairgrounds (Santa Rosa Building) on Dec 14 at 4:30 PM. For more information please contact Teresa Gómez, lead organizer of Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR), at teresa@pesticidereform.org. Follow CAPS (Coalition Advocating for Pesticide Safety here.

Action #2: WRITE a comment to the Dept. of Pesticide Regulation! Deadline January 12.

Send your comment to DPR23003@CDPR.CA.gov
Even if you are not a Ventura County resident, write a comment! If you eat CA-grown produce, you have a moral stake in this issue.
YOUR COMMENT DOES NOT NEED TO BE LONG! They can be personal.

Here are some good resources for your comments!

(phys.org) Study: Communities of color at greatest risk of pesticide exposure in Ventura County, California

• More than 5 million pounds of pesticides are applied on Ventura farms each year.
• These pesticide exposures threaten the health of hundreds of thousands of people who live in the county and put farmworkers and their families at the greatest health risk.
• Most of the locations with high-risk pesticide use are located near Oxnard, the biggest city in Ventura County. Oxnard has a higher percentage of people who identify as Hispanic or Latino or non-Hispanic African Americans, compared to the county’s other communities.
• Living near pesticide spraying is linked to increased risk of cancer and harm to the respiratory system and the developing fetus, such as low birth weight and reduced IQ.
• More than one in four homes in Ventura is located a half-mile or less from fields sprayed with pesticides linked to serious health harms, including cancer, neurotoxicity and harm to development and reproduction.
• 33 elementary schools in the county are within a quarter-mile of pesticide applications
• “Pesticide toxicity not only affects Ventura County communities at large, it systemically impacts the underserved Black and Brown communities who already face the highest numbers of deaths due to cancer, asthma and other respiratory diseases.” – Regina K. Hatcher-Crawford, California Hawaii State NAACP Central Area director and Ventura County NAACP branch president.

(ewg.org) Report: 32 million pounds of toxic pesticides sprayed on Ventura County fields from 2015 to 2020

• “Ventura County, Calif.,” began a feature story in The Washington Post in August 2015, “is the absolute most desirable place to live in America.”…But the Post’s laudatory story didn’t consider another important measure: pesticide exposures. Today, from Oxnard to Ojai, people in Ventura County live, work and go to school next to farm fields sprayed with some of the most toxic pesticides used in agriculture.”
• There are 61 pesticides sprayed in Ventura County that are linked to cancer, 77 pesticides that may harm the nervous system, 75 pesticides that may interfere with the hormonal system, 46 pesticides that may cause harm to the thyroid, and 88 that alter development or reproduction in laboratory animals.
• Research has shown that health harms from pesticides, including childhood cancers, may occur up to 2.5 miles away from the original application area.

Action #3: “YES” on H.R.1511/S.2606 – Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929.

Trump has promised to push through mass deportations in a guardrail-free second term, prioritizing fomenting xenophobia amongst his cult members who think their food and other essentials appear by magic, over any rational thought as to what the results of such actions would be. Even if he is sidelined somehow, the reality is this – “If a Republican wins in 2024, every mixed-status family in America could face the threat of separation.” with our economy to suffer as well.

H.R.1511/S.2606 – Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929 would expand eligibility for the current Registry program by removing its outdated cutoff deadline of January 1, 1972. This would provide lawful permanent resident status (and a path to citizenship!) to long-term residents of good character who’ve lived in the U.S. for at least 7 years, including undocumented individuals.

• Reps. Brownley and Carbajal have NOT cosponsored this bill yet.
• Senator Padilla introduced S.2606 (YAY!) and Senator Butler is a cosponsor.

The State of our state: Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 831–California Agricultural Worker Permanent Residency Program!

The state action is done! In September, we asked you to join with MICOP and urge Gov. Newsom to Sign Senate Bill 831–California Agricultural Worker Permanent Residency Program which would authorize him to work with the Federal Government to establish a pilot program that allows agricultural workers to gain a pathway to Permanent Residency Status.

Statistics on farmerworker contributions to our economy!

Some stats on how important our farmworker population is!

• Undocumented workers contribute over $9 billion annually to our local economy (Ventura and Santa Barbara counties). They also personally pay over $2 billion in state and federal taxes every year.
• Immigrant farmworkers make up an estimated 73% of agriculture workers in the United States and provides …essential work that puts food on our tables across the country, powers the economy and supports our communities…
• Undocumented farm workers make up approximately 50% of the farm labor workforce. In both counties, more than 30,000 undocumented immigrants work in agriculture – by far the largest share of jobs in this population.
• Without them, millions of pounds of food would otherwise go unharvested.
• All together, food and agriculture sector is a $1.053 trillion industry...
• Last year, the farm value of fruits, tree nuts and vegetables produced in the US was about  $50 billion , a number that’s expected to reach $60 billion in the next decade — IF there are workers available to support that growth.
• These workers pay taxes and contribute to the economy, but they are not protected by U.S. labor laws, and live every day under the threat of arrest and family separation – all while working in extremely difficult conditions.
• In general, the majority of undocumented immigrants have lived in the U.S. for more than ten years.
• If they are forced to leave, it would be even more devastating to our food supply, and fundamentally unfair, given what they’ve contributed.
• The dairy industry estimates that retail milk prices would nearly double if farmers lost their foreign-born workers. Overall, agricultural output would fall by $30 to $60 billion. Prices of other food products would soar.
• …The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has found that providing legal status to current undocumented workers would have a net positive effect on the federal budget, increasing tax revenues. The CBO has also found that legalizing the undocumented population would boost economic output and increase employment for U.S.-born workers.
• According to FWD.us estimates, if the undocumented individuals covered in this bill became citizens, they would contribute approximately $121 billion to the U.S. economy annually and about $35 billion in taxes.