Child Labor Rule Withdrawn & Senate Ag Committee Passes 2012 Farm Bill

The U.S. Department of Labor’s withdrawal of its controversial proposed rule dealing with children who work on farms and ranches brought a collective sigh of relief from the agricultural community. Washington Farm Bureau along with other Farm Bureau’s across the country rallied their members to send written comments to the Department of Labor opposing this rule which would have severely limited young people’s involvement in agriculture. But is this a dead issue? Scott Dilley with Washington Farm Bureau addresses this.

DILLEY: Well that’s what Department of Labor said in its press release, but something tells me that this issue is going to come back up and that’s why Farm Bureau and other groups - the FFA, 4-H, and others, all of these groups that opposed this proposal will still be watching what the Department of Labor does to make sure that they don’t come back with something similar to this in the future.

The DOL will now work with rural stakeholders to develop an educational program to reduce accidents and promote safe agricultural working practices.

In a 16-5 vote Thursday, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed their version of the “The Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012”. The SAC stated in a news release that the bill reforms food and agricultural policy by eliminating direct payments and emphasizing the need to strengthen risk management tools for farmers. The proposed Farm Bill also includes many of the critical priorities for specialty crops including Plant Pest and Disease Program funding, and funding at 2008 Farm Bill levels for both Section 32 specialty crop purchases and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.