California Farmer and Farmworker Month: How Latina Excellence is Feeding the Farmworkers Who Feed All of Us

In 2021, the California State Senate passed Resolution 54 that recognizes, in perpetuity, October as California Farmer and Farmworker Month. The resolution calls on all Californians and visitors to recognize and give thanks to the individuals working tirelessly to provide healthy and nutritious food to our kids and families.

At No Kid Hungry, we’re committed to ensuring all kids have three meals a day, 365 days a year. While we take this moment to recognize California Farmer and Farmworker Month, by honoring the contributions of agricultural workers and spotlighting the organizations on the ground supporting our hunger heroes, we must also reflect on the hunger facing agricultural workers.

Food Insecurity is the One of the Biggest Issues Facing Farmworkers

While over a one-third of vegetables and three-quarters of fruits and nuts produced in the U.S. are grown in California, hunger remains rampant in agricultural communities.

“The people who spend their days picking fruits and vegetables so we can have food on our tables are struggling to find food for their own families,” said Founder and CEO Flor Martinez Zaragoza.

A former farmworker herself, Martinez Zaragoza created Celebration Nation, a community organization dedicated to serving agricultural and migrant communities in California.

According to Martinez Zaragoza, farmworkers are underserved, overlooked and undervalued.

“It’s our responsibility as a human race to care for one another,” she continued. “When community comes together there are endless possibilities for impact. We need to be the change we keep talking about. It’s in our hands.”

Despite wildfires, poor air quality, heatwaves, and the pandemic, California’s farmworkers continued to show up and work. Martinez Zaragoza and Celebration Nation acted fast for farmworkers with the Fruits of Labor Food Bank for Farmworkers Program. The food bank is a year-round, community-led program helping farm working families with the same fruits and vegetables they pick but can’t otherwise afford for their own families.

With the support of grant funds from No Kid Hungry, Celebration Nation expanded their mobile Food Bank for Farmworkers Program, which is now serving in agricultural communities up and down California. Cities include San Martin, Salinas, Soledad, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, and Oxnard. Martinez Zaragoza has goals to expand into Napa and Fresno.

“We’re not going to stop because the need is still there,” said Martinez Zaragoza. “Our program feeds 2,000 families a month – about 8,000 children minimum per month. Families are showing up every time, and it feels like more families come looking for food every time.”

Latina Excellence and Leadership in Times of Hardship

For Martinez Zaragoza, this work is deeply personal. Her grandfather came to the U.S. from Jalisco, Mexico through the Bracero program, in hopes of a better life and opportunities for their family. She recounts that he broke his rib on the job and was sent back to Mexico.

“People are still being treated like he was treated,” she said. “Maybe I’m here to honor him. I genuinely just want change for our communities, and especially for farmworkers.”

Martinez Zaragoza is an example of real leadership and Latina excellence. She went from experiencing firsthand the hardships of working in the fields picking grapes at the age of 15, to becoming a DACA recipient and creating her own organization that fights to ensure families – regardless of citizenship status – have the resources they need.

Celebration Nation is an entirely volunteer-based, Latina-led organization with no paid staff.

“Seeing the way people step up for their communities – be it their town, their county, their state, their heritage, their country, their nation – seeing people come together to help each other truly inspires me every day and has been the root of the foundation since Day 1,” Martinez Zaragoza exclaimed.

It is also Latinas who work sun up to sun down in the fields and still find time to volunteer and coordinate the logistics for each food distribution in their community. They have expressed their gratitude to be able to show up for their neighbors and to No Kid Hungry for offering support to end child hunger.

In 2021, No Kid Hungry and our Program Manager Andrea Cuellar, respectively, were both recognized by Celebration Nation as the non-profit with the biggest impact of the year and changemaker of the year

“Because No Kid Hungry believed in us, we were able to secure other partnerships and serve food to those who work endlessly to feed us,” Martinez Zaragoza stated.

Let this California Farmer and Farmworker Month be a celebration of the strength and resiliency of leaders like Flor Martinez Zaragoza and all farmworkers who are working tirelessly to ensure that all kids have the food to power their dreams.

Last Reviewed: October 13, 2022