Time for Change
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| Family Farm |
My
husband and I moved out to the family farm two years ago because we want our
children to learn to work and what better place than on the family farm. Most
of America seems to agree with us. In
2012 the Obama administration discontinued the pursuit of a bill that would
change the child labor laws in agriculture because of the outcry of American
citizens. The Labor Department released
in their statement that "The Obama administration is
firmly committed to promoting family farmers and respecting the rural way of
life, especially the role that parents and other family members play in passing
those traditions down through the generations" (Leven). Unfortunately, the majority of children
working in agriculture are not working on family farms.
The bill that was not passed
would have kept any child under the age of sixteen from working with animals,
handling pesticides, handling “power-driven equipment” and in the “cultivation,
harvesting and curing of tobacco” (Leven).
All of which have proven to be the most fatal to children. Children working
on a family farm will most likely be provided with the necessary protection
when working in these situations whereas children of migrant farm laborers are
not.
Another difference would be the education on
the proper use of equipment. Children
working on their family farm would most likely have one-on-one teaching when it
came time to use the equipment. They are
also using the same equipment year after year learning a bit more each harvest
season. A migrant child moves with the
crops and works where they are hired it isn’t a guarantee that all of the
equipment will be the same or that they will work the same fields year after
year.
Finally, my children will
never labor on a farm the way migrant farm children do. During the summer my children might help move
pipe, pull weeds, and harvest produce which is similar to the tasks children
farm laborers perform. The vast
difference being when the heat of the day comes my children will be cooling off
in swimming holes or sitting under shade trees reading. They will not know very many eight-hour work
days; whereas the children of farm laborers will work sun up to sun down doing
the same backbreaking work day after day.
America needs to recognize that the majority
of children working on farms are not working on family farms. Children of migrant farm laborers shouldn’t
be expected to handle large machines and pesticide. Stricter regulations need to be implemented
to protect children who work on corporate farms. The child labor law is eighty years old it
could do with a makeover.
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| Migrant farm workers picking peas in Delano, CA 1966 |
References:
"Family Farm". Nichols Accounting. https://www.nicholsaccounting.com/consulting/financial- consulting/family-business-management/building-effective-farm-management/family-farm/
Leven, Rachel. “Obama
Administration Scraps Child Labor Restrictions for Farms”. The
Hill. April 27, 2012, https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/224169-obama- administartion-scraps-child-labor-rules-for-farms
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