Sonoma County Grape Growers Commit To Helping Local Farmworkers
March 24, 2016 Grape growers in Sonoma County fully understand how important their employees are to their operations.
That’s why the Sonoma County Winegrowers, which represents some 1,800 grape growers, has decided to relaunch the Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation to focus on the socially responsible component of sustainability. The goal is to improve the lives of the local workforce.
Sonoma County Winegrowers President Karissa Kruse says her organization will manage the foundation, which will partner with community-based organizations as well as government agencies to provide resources for agricultural employees and their families.
“Through this foundation, Sonoma County Winegrowers will be working to bridge the gap between existing programs and the individuals who should benefit from them in the areas of healthcare, affordable housing, childcare, and education,” she says.
The decision to relaunch the foundation was made in December as a result of conversations between both the Sonoma County Winegrowers and the Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation boards. Since then, the organizations have met with county officials and learned about a number of available services that are being underutilized by area agricultural workers.
“Our focus now is to develop programs and activities to bridge this gap and increase participation,” Kruse says. “Over the long term, we will raise money to fund programs if there is a gap in what is being offered and the needs of our important workforce.”
Approximately 5,000 farmworkers live in Sonoma County, and the majority of them work in vineyards, according to county data. In the past, many of these workers would have been migratory, but that’s not the case anymore. A county survey found that 88% of them call Sonoma County their permanent residence, and 71% live here with their families.
“We want to have a positive impact on the lives of our workers and their families,” Kruse says. “This is important for the attraction and retention of a strong agricultural workforce, but even more importantly, it is having these families be an integrated part of our community.”
She adds that Sonoma County Winegrowers considers this an important component of overall sustainability, which includes social responsibility.
“At the end of the day, this is about farming families taking care of farming families,” Kruse says. “It’s just who we are and what we do.”
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