A CENTURY IN THE FIELDS—PROGRESS, PERSISTENCE AND THE ROAD AHEAD By Jason Resnick, Senior Vice President and General Counsel
As Western Growers marks its 100th year, I find myself approaching a milestone of my own—23 years representing the fresh produce industry. When I arrived in May 2003, I could not have imagined how dramatically the legal and regulatory landscape would evolve, nor how often we would find ourselves navigating uncharted territory. Looking back, certain themes remain constant: labor shortages, immigration policy gridlock, regulatory expansion, litigation risk and the ongoing tension between Sacramento, Washington, D.C., and the realities of farming. What has changed is not the existence of these challenges, but their intensity, complexity and the stakes for growers. The Constant: Labor Supply and Immigration Long before I arrived at Western Growers, the association was already engaged in the effort to align federal immigration policy with the realities of agriculture. Western Growers supported the agricultural compromise embedded in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, including the Special Agricultural Worker (SAW) program, recognizing that a stable workforce required bringing experienced farmworkers out of the shadows. That same principle has guided our advocacy ever since: agriculture is different, and it requires solutions that reflect the seasonal, labor- intensive nature of growing fresh produce. When I joined Western Growers in 2003, that work was front and center. We were heavily engaged in the push for AgJOBS, which paired earned legalization with a workable guestworker program. While AgJOBS ultimately fell short, it established the framework for every serious agricultural labor proposal that followed. That framework carried into the Senate’s bipartisan immigration bill in 2013, S. 744, where Western Growers led and helped shape agriculture-specific provisions balancing enforcement, legalization and a reformed guestworker system. More recently, that same effort has continued with the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. The core elements remain familiar: a path to legal status for the existing workforce and meaningful reforms to the H-2A program to make it more usable and reliable for growers. Despite bipartisan support and repeated House passage, the bill has yet to reach the finish line. For decades, there has been general agreement on what agriculture needs. The challenge has been getting it across the line. In the meantime, the industry has adapted. The H-2A program, once viewed as a last resort, has become a central pillar of the agricultural workforce. It remains
complex and costly, but for many operations, it is no longer optional. Recent adjustments to wage calculations and wage reductions in exchange for providing housing have offered some relief, but the broader issue of agricultural labor reform remains unresolved. For more than two decades, our work in this space has centered on one objective: a legal, stable and experienced workforce. That objective remains as urgent today as ever. The Rise of Wage and Hour Complexity If immigration has been a constant challenge, wage and hour law has been the fastest-moving target. When I began, compliance was important, but manageable. That changed in the early 2010s with the surge of piece-rate litigation. Court decisions requiring separate compensation for nonproductive time and rest breaks upended long-standing practices and created immediate exposure across the industry. The result was a wave of class actions seeking significant damages for practices that had been widely understood as lawful. Western Growers worked closely with the Legislature on AB 1513, which created a “safe harbor” allowing employers to correct past practices. It was a pragmatic solution, but not an easy one, requiring substantial back payments and administrative effort. That period was followed by AB 1066 and the phase- in of agricultural overtime, permanently altering the industry’s historical framework. Layered on top of these developments was the rapid expansion of representative litigation under the California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). What began as a novel enforcement mechanism quickly became a primary driver of wage and hour risk, often targeting technical violations with outsized penalties. Today, agricultural employers in California operate under one of the most complex wage and hour systems in the country, where even minor missteps can carry significant consequences. Recent PAGA reforms championed by Western Growers and coalition allies offer a measure of relief. By narrowing claims to violations personally experienced, reducing penalties for less serious violations and incentivizing proactive compliance, the Legislature has taken steps to recalibrate the system. It is not a complete fix, but it reflects a growing recognition that the balance had shifted too far. Labor Relations: A Changing Landscape Labor relations in agriculture have moved through distinct cycles.
6 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com April – June 2026
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