Sensible Regulations
Sensible Regulations. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.
There are a lot of people in the world who just can’t seem to wrap their head around some of the proposed regulations these days. It’s the smack yourself in the forehead and ask “What are they thinking?” moment. One group, Small Businesses for Sensible Regulations, a project of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is trying to make sure that these regulations do make sense. Coalition chair, former Senator Blanche Lincoln from Arkansas says first off that small business is a major part of rural America.
LINCOLN: In small towns and communities across the country we’ve got a lot of these small businesses. A lot of people fail to realize that agriculture - many of our agriculture businesses and producers - our ag producers are small family businesses and that’s critical.
And of course a lot of those family farms and ranch labor is made up of youth. Either family members or on their first jobs. One of the big issues the coalition is working on is the attempt to crack down on the employment of youths under the age of 16 on farms and ranches.
LINCOLN: One of the things we’ve seen come out recently from the Department of Labor where they published a notice of proposed rule making that would amend and expand a number of the existing hazardous occupation orders that pertain to the employment of youth under the age of 16 on farms and ranches. We are all concerned and we want to make sure that safety is the number one issue, not only for our children but for all workers. There’s no doubt that farm families and farming operations are doing everything they can and want to continue to do everything they can but some of these expansions, particularly in terms of definitions really do cause of to think not only about is it going too far but more importantly is it going to be so prohibitive that we’re not going to allow our youth to grow up on the farm and to really learn what has to be learned not only to become a farmer but to want to become a farmer.
A very important part of my youth was working on a farm driving a tractor and baling hay and even working at the local grain elevator unloading wheat trucks.
LINCOLN: We’ve got to make sure we’ve got farmers in the pipeline and making sure that these young adults and teenagers can participate in the farm is going to be a real issue here. Some of these fundamental changes of how the Department of Labor interprets some of these existing parental exemptions for family farms could restrict the ability of youth to work on common farm equipment such as tractors and other equipment like that.
More tomorrow with Former Senator Blanche Lincoln.
That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
