New Bill Proposed Would Stop Children From Working On Family Farms
Autumn Helps Daddy Mow The Fields
I just saw this posted by a friend on Facebook. I was dumb founded. The Obama administration is actually proposing a bill that would make it illegal for children to farm chores on their family farms.
The bill, proposed by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, was proposed on August 31, 2011. If passed, the bill would not only put new regulations on “child labor” around the family farm, but “would also revoke the government’s approval of safety training and certification taught by independent groups like 4-H and FFA, replacing them instead with a 90-hour federal government training course.”
The bill is written in vague terms, and even lawyers would have a hard time decifering it. It would create legal jams for many small farms. This jam, would not be of the tasty kind.Â
I am not sure what this Hilda Solis has in mind, but the whole plan would undermine the family farm. As it is, the true “family farms” have been dwindling in large numbers of the last few years. Passing a bill that would ban children from allowing to help out on the farm, would force farmers into hiring outside hands. This is something many small family farms can not afford to do. Children have been working on family farms for generations. It is part of what life is like on a farm. In addition each year, rural children look forward to their 4-H projects.
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When something isn’t broken, why bother fixing it?
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Is this the governments way of ruining the small family farm, so the big “ari-business”, like the Monsanto farms will take over?
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I do understand, to some extent, that they are trying to make sure that children are safe. But, children have been working on family farms for generations, and the work they learned has taught them some true valuable lessons that have lasted a lifetime. Wouldn’t there time and money be spent better elsewhere, like improving the Dept. Of Human Services. This is one government department that is need of a giganitc overhaul, from top to bottom.
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My kids are grown, so the law does not affect me. It does however affect several small farms in our area.
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If I did have kids, they would be working right along side me, as they have done for generations.