Farmers and ranchers work long, hard hours to produce the food that ends up on your table.

Agriculture is the oldest industry in the world. Throughout history it has evolved to meet the needs of the human race. And so have its workers. This industry is different from any other, and it should be treated as such. SB 21-87 jeopardizes the ability of farmers and ranchers throughout the state to meet our agricultural needs.

The bill lacked support from both sides of the aisle when it was initially debated during the legislative session; it was immediately recognized as an overreaching attack on Colorado’s food producers. The governor’s office urged the agriculture community to stand down and be quiet: they would address our concerns through their rulemaking so that our industry could continue to produce their food. They promised to compromise and protect agriculture as we know it in order to garner votes from the Democrats who understood the negative impact of the regulation.

Proponents of the original legislation blatantly lied to paint a picture of ag worker despair and abuse. They brought pictures of fenced-in homes and claimed that the fences were in place to keep employees from fleeing, when in fact the barriers were erected to protect the homes when temporary workers were not actively living in the housing.

There are some who genuinely want to help ag workers by mandating overtime pay. Others are merely activists whose lies and distortions have muddied the waters of the discussion. Unfortunately, their lack of understanding of the ag industry and its workers will cause your food to become more expensive. For some, this will leave less money in their pockets for other family necessities. For others, it will be a devastating blow to their family’s food security.

Nearly 80% of Americans know that farmers are honest and hard-working people. Of all the farms in this country, 98% are family farms – family farms that hire people to help them harvest vegetables or care for sheep and cattle when they are giving birth.

As you might expect, when animals bear their young, they don’t do it on a schedule. Nighttime watchmen are necessary to help the mothers if there is a problem during birth, or to protect the baby from a ruthless predator.

Under the new rules, if I spend twelve hours a day monitoring these animals, I can only work four days before I have to receive overtime. In real life, during a snowstorm or other weather event I will often reach the new overtime threshold in just three days – and happily keep working the rest of the week, without overtime. Why would I work under these conditions? Because I want to. I enjoy what I do and the compensation that goes with it – that is the message so many agriculture workers throughout the country have for the lawmakers and activists trying to control and change our way of life.

Agriculture is a unique industry: farmers and ranchers purchase business necessities at retail prices, then sell their products at wholesale value. Family farms don’t have the luxury of setting the prices of their commodities to accommodate an increase in labor costs. Ultimately, many of our small family producers will not be able to survive this new regulation, with the unintended consequence being an increase in larger corporate farms and higher food costs for your family.

The vast majority of farm and ranch workers choose this industry because they enjoy the work and are happy with their compensation; as it stands, most make far more than minimum wage. This rule will force employers to reduce their year-round hourly wage to compensate for the new “peak-season” overtime rules.

The bottom line? Your food will be more expensive and family farms will go out of business, all because this governor caved to a small group of activists. The urban-rural divide is escalating into a war on rural Colorado as Polis’ Democrat colleagues join forces with him. Unfortunately, the consumer is the ultimate loser in this battle.

Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg represents Senate District 1, which includes Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson, Lincoln, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Weld, Sedgwick, Washington, and Yuma Counties in the Colorado General Assembly.