Reducing Child Labor & Farming Rap

Reducing Child Labor & Farming Rap plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The Department of Labor has announced a five-million dollar grant competition to pilot test USDA’s guidelines to reduce child labor and forced labor in imported agricultural products. It’s estimated that 60-percent of children who work worldwide do so in the ag sector. The project that receives funding as a result of the competition announced Thursday will involve piloting a program for one or more companies to reduce child labor - and forced labor if applicable - in an agricultural supply chain in one country.

And leave it to some Kansas boys to rap about farming:

AUDIO: I’m Farming and I Grow It.

The YouTube video gone viral - “I’m Farming and I Grow It” started with one guy having a little fun with a song while hanging out at a Sonic in Manhattan, Kansas. Greg Peterson came up with the lyrics and then persuaded his younger brothers to record the song and appear in the video. Peterson posted the video Monday evening and it went viral in 24 hours with 23-thousand views. Let’s see what northwest ag producers can come up with...

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

We had the opportunity to dine at our favorite sushi restaurant the other night sans the grandchildren and were really looking forward to a fine dining experience. Sadly, thanks to some other restaurant goers children, our dining experience was far from fine or enjoyable. A large table of thirty to forty somethings proceeded to completely ignore the fact that their three children were literally jumping off the chairs, wrestling on the floor, and shrieking at the top of their healthy little lungs. How the poor wait staff were able to do their jobs without tripping over these children is anyones’ guess. As a mom and now grandma, the fear of something hot being accidentally spilled on the children kept me in knots the entire time. It is no wonder that several restaurants have gone to a “no children allowed” atmosphere. The problem though does not lie with the children. Children will be children. The parents who fail to take control of the situation and stop it before it gets out of hand are the real problem. Teaching children to have manners in public places isn’t stifling them; it’s teaching them to be courteous and considerate human beings.

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