A payroll ledger is a tidy place for a complicated question: which worker belongs in which wage category? For a California citrus operation, the answer can depend on the worker’s employment status, not just the fruit being picked.
AB 2646, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, establishes a separate agricultural minimum wage of $19.75 an hour beginning January 1, 2027, with cost-of-living adjustments starting the following year, according to Fisher Phillips’ account of the law.
A wage rule with a defined reach
The new floor applies to specified workers, rather than automatically covering every person employed by an agricultural business. Western Growers says the law covers H-2A workers and qualifying domestic employees in corresponding employment.
That distinction matters to citrus employers with different kinds of labor on the books. The available descriptions identify the covered categories, but do not settle every worker-by-worker classification question; the label on a job, by itself, may not answer whether the law applies.
Farm groups warn about thin margins
A broad group of agricultural trade associations opposed the bill, including California Citrus Mutual, Western Growers, CalChamber and California Farm Bureau. Their stated concern was that the new floor “would impose significant new costs on California farms that already operate on extremely thin margins,” as Fisher Phillips reports.
The disagreement is less about whether labor costs matter than about where the cost lands. A wage floor aimed at defined worker categories puts the practical debate on eligibility and payroll treatment, alongside the broader argument over how much additional expense farms can absorb.
For citrus operations, the useful unit of analysis is the position and its employment arrangement—not an assumption that one wage treatment fits every person working across the business.