YUMA – Today, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined workers in Yuma County to harvest produce with the Growers Company, at a local lettuce farm. Yuma, the “Winter Lettuce Capital of the World,” produces 90% of the U.S.’ leafy greens from November to April. The workers start their day by waking up at 2 a.m. to travel to the lettuce fields.
Before the sun rose, Senator Gallego met with the harvesters who showed him every step that goes into keeping produce sections across the nation stocked.
Workers start the day off by stretching and sanitizing before heading to their stations in the fields. Once there, the labor-intensive harvest begins.
Throughout his visit, Senator Gallego spoke with workers and Growers Company staff, including Mark Rodriquez about the necessary role work visas and ensuring Arizona has access to water rights plays into keeping groceries affordable for the entire country.
Watch more on Senator Gallego’s visit on Arizona’s Family and HERE.
“It gives you a really good appreciation about what happens here, both from the farmers, from the workers, the whole supply chain. It really shows you how intricate it is and how hard it is, and how grateful we should be that we have so many people that want to continue to feed us,” Senator Gallego told Arizona’s Family. “Talking to the workers in Spanish, they told me what they go through every day to come to work, it was really impactful. […] Essentially, if these workers are not here, working, America is not getting fed, or America is going to get fed, but the food’s going to be much more expensive. So this is a good compromise, where we get people that cross over the border, they want to good pay, steady American wages. We get good, steady work, and we get to have mostly stable food prices in this country.”