Victory for Labor

Victory for Labor

Victory for Labor. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

A proposal that would have prevented many young people from working in agriculture has been withdrawn by the Department of Labor. The outpouring of concern from farmers and ranchers throughout the country can take a lot of the credit.

Boswell: After reviewing the over 10,000 comments they decided that it was not the best approach to regulate farm safety. The reaction of the withdrawal has been awesome. Everyone is excited that the administration listened to the farmers and ranchers across America and took the common sense approach and withdrew the regulation and we look forward to working with the agencies to promote farm safety. This was a great victory for agriculture.

American Farm Bureau Labor Specialist Kristi Boswell says the original proposal was a problem because it was extremely vague about what kinds of work kids under the age of 16 would be able to do. If taken literally, it was possible that kids wouldn't have been allowed to use battery-powered screwdrivers or to pump fuel into certain farm equipment.

Boswell: The reaction in the countryside is relief that the Department of Labor and the administration looked at the reality of agriculture today and is looking and is working with us to develop safety programs that are locally controlled and allow our farmers and ranchers to be directly involved.

Now, instead of over-the-top federal rules, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is asking to work with agricultural groups like the Farm Bureau, 4-H and FFA to make farm safety programs stronger.

Boswell: American Farm Bureau is looking forward to promoting farm safety, as it always has, across the country. Our state Farm Bureaus have a lot of programs currently in place and the USDA has reached out to American Farm Bureau and other interested ag groups to encourage those programs and assist promoting farm safety.

Boswell talks about how farmers and ranchers managed to make things happen when they spoke out about the child labor issue.

Boswell: This is absolutely a tribute to grassroots effort. Farmers and ranchers across the country talked to their members of Congress, made note to the Department of Labor about r the true effect that these regulations would have had on farms and ranches across the country and not only to the farmers, but to the youth who are learning skills on these farms and raising money for college all would have been affected.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network. 

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