Thirty five hundred farm workers gathered in Calexico early this Friday at the 26th Annual Farm Worker Appreciation Breakfast. The event was sponsored by the Calexico Employment Development Department which helps unemployed workers find jobs. KPBS Producer Ana Tintocalis has more.
The breakfast kicked-off at 2:30am to give farm workers enough time to eat before they headed out to the fields.
Imperial Valley produces about 90 percent of the country's winter vegetables -like broccoli, lettuce and cauliflower.
Calexico Mayor Alex Perrione says the industry is worth about a billion dollars annually, and that's why farm workers are so important to the region.
Perrione: "If we didn't have farm labor here, we wouldn't have an Imperial Valley, that's our most important industry, is farming, agriculture. So we know how important it is and and what they contribute."
Mayor Perrione served fresh beans and tamales to the 3,500 workers.
Farm laborers typically rise at 1am in order to cross the border from Mexicali into Calexico to hook-up with labor contractors. By sunrise they're busy in the fields.
Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.
