August 19, 2026

Farmworkers took their fight to the doorstep of a Central Coast wine celebration Friday, rallying outside the Wine & Fire festival in Lompoc to demand higher pay and recognition for the people who actually harvest the grapes behind the region’s polished image. While the Sta. Rita Hills Wine Alliance marked the area’s wine boom and 25 years as an AVA, workers and advocates from Alianza Campesina, CAUSE and MICOP blasted low wages and brutal hours — with one farmworker, Maria, saying she earns $18 an hour, starts as early as midnight or 3 a.m., and still can’t keep up with rising costs.

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