Center for Investigative Reporting (Reveal)

To many farmers and county officials, ag pass programs are a lifeline in regions where agriculture is a pillar of the economy. But for farmworkers, the passes put them in the unenviable position of potentially risking their lives to maintain their livelihoods.

After this story appeared, Sonoma County reformed its ag pass program. The state of California also requested that my team share the dataset we compiled on California counties with ag pass programs, because they had no equivalent data themselves.

This investigation was produced in partnership with Reveal, the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN), and WorldAffairs.