Child Labor Rules

February 2, 2012

February 2, 2012

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This is Rick Frank sitting in for John Block who is on vacation. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Wal-Mart Stores, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

Last summer, my grandson – a 13-year-old – worked on my Illinois farm; sounds pretty natural to me. However, it appears that the Department of Labor would like to make it illegal. The Department wants to update the child labor rules governing agricultural work.

We all know that there is risk in doing farm work. There is also risk in riding in a car, riding a bicycle, riding a horse.

The Labor Department wants to bar children under 18 from working at grain elevators, silos, feedlots, and livestock auctions. If you are under 16 years in age, don’t set foot on the farm. Stay inside and watch TV.

It seems that government doesn’t have anything better to do than dream up more regulations.

How dangerous is it to hay the cows? When I was a boy, I would lead the horses to the water tank for water.

When I was 11 or 12 years old, I milked the cows – by hand. They would lick sometimes, but I was quick. I was driving a tractor there too, although very slow in low gear. Young kids need to be supervised, but they need to learn how to work.

Kids are riding horses on ranches and farms across the land. Of course, there is some risk. You could fall off or get bucked off. Is the Labor Department going to say that you have to be 15 years old to ride a horse?

Everywhere you look, everything that we do – there is risk. I don’t think the federal government should attempt to sort out and dictate every little detail of our rural lifestyle.

It is ironic that as the government seems to be promoting smaller family farms, they would at the same time be limiting family work.

To be accurate, the Labor Department says that they do not intend to restrict children’s work on their parents’ farm. But what about my grandson? What about the neighbor boy that could use a little work?

I’m the first to admit that farming can be dangerous, but I don’t think the Labor Department will have the answer.

In closing, I would encourage you to access my website which archives my radio commentaries dating back 10 years and will go back 20 years when complete. Check on what I said back then. Go to www.johnblockreports.com .

Until next week, I am John Block in Washington.