CCLP testifies to protect Colorado farmworkers

CCLP testifies to protect Colorado farmworkers

by Charles Brennan| Apr 10, 2026

Family Economic Security, Food, Income, Legislative Updates, Research and Policy Analysis, Testimony, Workers, Workforce

On Monday, April 6, 2026, Charles Brennan, Income and Housing Policy Director at CCLP, provided testimony in opposition to Senate Bill 26-121, Overtime Threshold for Agricultural Employees. The bill would raise the overtime threshold to a staggering 56 hours a week, which would damage worker health and increase economic inequality.

Chair and members of the committee, my name is Charles Brennan, Director of Income and Housing Policy at the Colorado Center on Law and Policy. I am here in opposition to SB26-121.

Proponents argue that raising the agricultural overtime threshold from 48 to 56 hours is necessary to protect farms and farm workers from economic harm. Colorado's own data do not support that conclusion.

The 2022 Census of Agriculture shows that only 19% of Colorado farm operations reported any hired labor expenses. The remaining 81% relied on operator and family labor, both exempt from overtime at any threshold. Solutions that help farms and ranches address cost pressures shared across the full farm population would reach far more producers and have a greater impact on operating expenses than an adjustment to overtime.

Colorado's Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data shows that average weekly wages in the agriculture industry increased 12.9% from 2021 to 2024. That growth appears across every major sector - from beef cattle and dairy to greenhouse and vegetable farming. If employers were systematically cutting hours to avoid overtime, we would expect to see wages decline. We cannot know what share of these wages are overtime from this data, but they do not indicate farm workers have seen their average earnings decline since Colorado's overtime policy began implementation.

The statistic that two-thirds of Colorado farms operated at a net loss in 2022 sounds alarming. It is worth noting this same share reported net losses in 2017, yet the number of farms declined by eight percent over this period. United States Department of Agriculture research shows that for most farm households, reported losses reflect standard accounting and tax strategies rather than financial distress. These Census figures also exclude off-farm income entirely. Nationally, smaller farms - those most often described as financially struggling - earned an average of $115,000 in off-farm income in 2015. The 2022 Census shows that 64% of Colorado producers worked off-farm, meaning the majority earned income through wages or salaries that the net loss figure does not capture that research suggests would offset any farm losses. It is also worth noting the average farm owned land and buildings worth $2 million in 2022-these assets are also not accounted for in the statistics on net operating losses.

Finally, the financial benefit of raising this threshold seems likely to flow primarily to the largest operations in Colorado. Farms with one million dollars or more in annual sales represent 14% of operations with any hired labor-yet they employed 46% of Colorado farm workers and paid 69% of all hired labor costs in 2022. These farms averaged 15 workers each. By contrast, only nine percent of farms with less than $5,000 in annual sales, more than half of all Colorado operations, had hired labor. Those that did hire averaged two workers. These are the small family farms that we all want to see thrive in Colorado-how much assistance will this bill provide the 91% of them without hired labor?

I urge the committee to vote no on SB26-121. Thank you, and I welcome your questions.

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