Child Labor Common Sense & Dry December Weather

Child Labor Common Sense & Dry December Weather plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Iowa senator Chuck Grassley says a labor department proposal to restrict child labor on farms doesn’t pass the “common sense” test…and he’s written the Labor Secretary urging the idea be scuttled. Grassley has joined other republicans in complaining to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, whose agency wants to reduce the high rate of child injuries and fatalities from farm machinery and animals. But Grassley argues some of labor’s proposed restrictions are ‘ridiculous’.

GRASSLEY: Such as a probation for a young person working with 6-month old bull calves. Yet anyone who work with beef cattle knows that a 6-month old bull calf doesn’t pose a harm or extraordinary threat to anybody.

I heard from my friends and relatives in Kansas that they have been hit with a massive snow storm while yesterday the sun came out and temps warmed into the 40’s here in Eastern Washington. The Pacific Northwest may well be seeing some records this winter in the dry category. Ski resorts are reporting half the base they usually have in Oregon while Idaho skiers are resorting to man-made snow. Even winter rain and ice has been hard to find...not that I’m complaining. One forecaster says that La Nina conditions will continue in the Pacific with the long-term forecast calling for cooler and wetter than normal weather January through March. 

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

The Occupy protesters who blocked entrances to West coast ports last week in retaliation against Wall Street businesses achieved what they were hoping for, attention for their cause. They also achieved something I’d like to think was not their intent, the interruption of an FFA program that delivers food for needy families. Trucks that were supposed to pick up produce donated by farmers in the Pacific Northwest were unable to get past protesters who blocked terminals; resulting in extra long hours of makeup time by the FFA students and community members who had already donated hundreds of man hours packing the 40,000 pounds of individually boxed produce that was affected. Others affected by the protesters include the truckers, dockworkers, rail workers, and others who don’t get paid when Occupy protester rallies block and shut down businesses. This was a perfect example of how good intentions and motives can go horribly wrong, especially when people don’t stop to think about the very real consequences of their actions, and who will ultimately be hurt and affected in the long run. The end results do not always justify the means.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.