National Farm Worker Ministry

09/07/2026

This Labor Day, we’re honoring the generations of workers who fought for safer workplaces, fairer wages, and greater dignity on the job.

We’ve wrestled with the question a lot when meeting farm workers laboring in the extreme heat for less pay this summer: What would it take to make the protections won by generations of workers available to the people who grow our food?

This Labor Day, we’re asking ourselves:

What can we learn from the history of who was left out of our nation’s labor protections—and what does that history ask of us today?

⚖️ Why were farm workers and domestic workers left out of national labor laws?
⚖️ Why have these exclusions remained for nearly 100 years?
⚖️ How does exclusion from national labor laws affect farm worker health, safety, and the ability to speak up at work?

These are the questions at the heart of our next Farm Worker Health webinar:
Not at the Table: How Exclusion from Labor Protections Puts Farm Worker Health at Risk

Join us on October 14 as we look at the history, the systems, and the consequences that continue to shape farm worker communities today.

📅 Register early to save your spot & receive updates:
https://nfwm.org/news/farm-worker-labor-protections-webinar/

09/05/2026

5,000 signatures by Labor Day. 🌱

Our friends are calling on Costa Farms, one of the largest plant growers in the country, to protect workers and join Planting Justice.

Their goal is to reach 5,000 signatures by Monday, September 7, and you can help them get there.

✍️ Add your name and stand with workers organizing for dignity, respect, and better working conditions:

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/costa-join/

Already signed? Share this post and help Planting Justice reach 5,000 by Labor Day.

09/04/2026

Tomorrow in Quincy, Massachusetts! 📣

dairy workers and supporters will gather outside Ahold Delhaize USA, Hannaford’s parent company, calling on Hannaford Supermarkets to join the Milk with Dignity Program.

📍 Friday, September 4 at 1 PM

If you’re in the Quincy/Boston area, please consider joining dairy workers and supporters in person.

Can’t make it?
Help spread the word or use Migrant Justice’s action toolkit to support the campaign from wherever you are.

👉 https://migrantjustice.net/Hannaford-action-toolkit

Stand with dairy workers organizing for dignity and justice.

09/01/2026

Some days stay with you because of everything they hold.

Our Summer Farm Worker Engagement Day began by listening to leaders from the Farm Labor Organizing Committee Farm Labor Organizing Committee - FLOC as they shared the ways they're supporting farm workers and advancing the right for farm workers to organize together for change.

Later that day, we joined and an interfaith community for Bearing Witness, a vigil honoring farm workers who have died from extreme heat and standing alongside workers calling for stronger protections.

And that evening, we sat down for dinner with farm workers working in North Carolina through the H-2A program. Over a shared meal, we listened as workers talked about their families, their work, and what changes in wages and housing costs mean for the people depending on them back home.

Each part of the day reminded us of the same thing: solidarity begins by listening to the people whose lives are most directly affected.

We’re grateful to for documenting the vigil and, most importantly, helping bring farm worker voices from that day to a wider audience.

Read their coverage here:
https://enlacelatinonc.org/en/Vigil-in-Raleigh-honors-farmworkers-who-died-from-extreme-heat/

08/28/2026

One week from today, Migrant Justice / Justicia Migrante dairy workers and supporters will gather in Quincy, Massachusetts, to call on Hannaford Supermarkets to join the Milk with Dignity Program.

On Friday, September 4 at 1 PM, dairy workers and supporters will rally outside Ahold Delhaize USA, Hannaford’s parent company, in support of worker-led demands for dignity and justice.

If you’re nearby, you can join the action in person and bring others with you.

If you can’t attend, you can still support the campaign by sharing it with your network and using Migrant Justice’s Milk with Dignity Hannaford Action Toolkit to take action from wherever you are.

📣 Learn more and take action:
https://migrantjustice.net/Hannaford-action-toolkit

08/26/2026

Thank you for standing in solidarity with farm workers, Community Food Strategies! We appreciate your presence with us at this rally.

We’re grateful that Community Food Strategies team member Nathalie had the opportunity to attend the Bearing Witness Vigil hosted by the National Farm Worker Ministry on July 24.

The vigil honored farmworkers who have lost their lives due to heat stress and unsafe working conditions, bringing together community members, faith leaders, and advocates in remembrance and solidarity.

We’re thankful for spaces like this that call us to bear witness, stand alongside farmworkers, and continue advocating for safer, more just working conditions for the people whose labor is essential to our food system.

08/26/2026

There’s something powerful about getting people who care about the same things into the same room. 💚

Recently, our Director of Farm Worker Advocacy, Elizabeth Rodriguez, joined Farmworker Justice and advocates from across the Southwest to connect, learn, and think together about what it takes to build a more just food system.

Some relationships were new. Others were years in the making.

But that’s part of how this work grows.

We learn what others are seeing in their communities. We find places where our work connects. We share ideas, strengthen relationships, and leave knowing there are more people we can call on — and more ways we can show up for one another.

We’re grateful for opportunities like this to keep building a movement rooted in relationships, solidarity, and a shared commitment to farm worker justice. 🌱

08/23/2026

What does mental health support look like when it starts with the whole person?

A few weeks ago, we explored that question during our webinar, Carrying More Than the Harvest: Mental Health in Farm Worker Communities.

The conversation reminded us that mental health is shaped by far more than what happens in a counseling room. Working conditions, extreme heat, financial stress, family separation, housing, culture, language, community, and access to trusted support can all affect well-being.

And meaningful care looks different when it begins by listening to the people and communities it is meant to serve.

➡️ Swipe through for a few of the questions we explored together, including the role of community-centered care, faith communities, and reducing stigma around mental health.

Want to go deeper? The full webinar replay, presenter materials, and additional resources are available here:

https://nfwm.org/news/farm-worker-mental-health-webinar/

08/19/2026

Farm workers face more than 35 times the risk of heat-related death compared with workers in other industries. ☀️

According to research by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the danger of extreme heat for agricultural workers is disproportionately high.

Extreme heat isn't simply uncomfortable for people spending full days working outdoors. It's a workplace hazard that can lead to serious illness, injury, and death.

Yet right now, H.R. 6213 could block progress toward federal heat protections by preventing the Department of Labor from finalizing or enforcing OSHA's proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention standard or a substantially similar rule.

Farm workers and other outdoor workers should not have to risk their lives to earn a living.

📣 Our partners at the United Farm Workers are asking people across the country to contact Congress and urge their representatives to oppose H.R. 6213.

It takes just a few minutes to add your voice.

👉 Take action today:
https://act.seiu.org/a/fedheatregs

We’ll share the NIH and CDC research behind this statistic in the comments.