SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Standing in line with many other agricultural field workers, Guadalupe said she’s thankful for the new food distribution program in Yolo County.

It was set up specifically to help farmworkers.

“It is a big help economically speaking, especially for large families with five, six or more children,” Guadalupe said.

The mother of three is not alone.

Valeria also works in the fields and also has three kids. She said feeding her family can be hard.

“It’s hot and hardworking in the sun and the salary is low,” Valeria said. “It’s a tough job.”

Although recent inflation numbers have cooled, the price for goods and services is up 22% since 2019 in California, according to the state’s Department of Industrial Relations.

The new mobile food distribution called the Cultivo Program is run by the Yolo County Food Bank.

Maria Segoviano is the director of development and communication with the food bank and said the county has many farmworkers.

A recent study conducted by the food bank was the impetus for the program.

Segoviano said they found over 50% of those who pick and pack the food that feed the county, are food insecure.

“I don’t think that enough people know about how important this issue is,” Segoviano said. “My hope is that we, you know, we amplify this issue and that it becomes something, that, you know, we can really move the needle on.”

An important part of the program Segoviano said is being mobile to make it easier for workers and create relationships with the ranchers to spread the word of the distribution.

They have enough funds, Segoviano said, for the program to continue once a month for the next two years, but she hopes that will change as they’ve had seen consistent numbers of around 100 people at each distribution.

“This can’t just be a two-year program,” Segoviano said. “I want to see it become a permanent program for us, because it is really part of the fabric that we’re in, that we live in.”

They hope, Segoviano said, the Cultivo Program will happen biweekly.

Guadalupe said she hopes the program can continue because the need is not going away anytime soon.

“I’ll take all the help I can get,” she said. “I really like the fact that they don’t ask for any papers, or many questions.”

It's something Guadalupe said she knows matters to many of the workers and families at the distribution.