Child labor proposals stir emotions about the future of farms

By Ryan Tipps

Proposed revisions to federal child-labor regulations are intended to add a layer of safety to farming, one of the country's most hazardous occupations. But critics argue that such restrictions would in fact wound the spirit of the next generation of farmers.

Since the U.S. Department of Labor's proposed rules were released in the first week of September, vigorous assessments from the nation's farm bureaus, child-welfare advocates, lawmakers and farmers themselves stretched on for weeks. The initial public comment period was extended for a month to Dec. 1 in part because of the volume of comments - roughly 18,000 - the agency's Wage and Hour Division received.

Ensuring the welfare of children "is a priority of the department, and this proposal is another element of our comprehensive approach," U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said in a news release at the time of the announcement.

The proposal would update regulations that have been in place for more than 40 years. Among the most contentious elements are rules that would limit farm workers younger than 16 from operating all power-driven machines and would restrict them from working around pesticides and tobacco. Furthermore, they would restrict those younger than 16 from engaging in animal husbandry practices that inflict pain upon the animal, from herding animals in confined spaces and from handling animals with dangerous behaviors.

The changes come at a time when the amount of machinery and other hazards on agricultural operations is growing, and with that, the injury and fatality rate of farmers.

The Labor Department's proposal, citing 2006 data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Childhood Agricultural Injury Survey, suggests that just fewer than 56,000 farm workers younger than 16 were employed nationally. A spokeswoman with the Wage and Hour Division said that the fatality rate for young agricultural workers is more than four times greater than that of their peers employed in nonagricultural workplaces. And she noted that the injuries suffered in the agricultural sector tend to be more severe.

Reid Maki, coordinator for the Child Labor Coalition advocacy group, said his group predicts that the regulations will save 50 to 100 lives over the next decade.

While the new rules would not affect exemptions afforded to children who work on farms owned by their parents, critics of the regulations point out that other family members as well as neighbors would be more restricted in their participation on many farms. Additionally, some opponents interpret the rules as failing to provide family exemptions at corporate farms.

Martha Moore, vice president of governmental relations for the Virginia Farm Bureau, said that an erosion of enthusiasm for agriculture among the next generation of farmers is only one row in a field of concerns the advocacy group has.

She said the Virginia Farm Bureau has filed comments with the Department of Labor, arguing that the changes could have economic risks and create a labor shortage that could jeopardize the stability of the industry. She also said the rules hinge on too broad a definition of hazardous tasks.

"If the rules go in as we have interpreted the proposals, it would prevent a lot of kids from being able to work on their family farms," Moore said. "I just think that it's very overreaching."

U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a Roanoke County Republican who represents a district rich in livestock, shares Moore's opinion.

"We want to encourage young people to work on farms, and this just misses that by a mile," he said of the Labor Department's proposal.

Moore said working with animals and following their growth from birth is a fundamental aspect of passing an agricultural tradition on to the nation's youth. The shared experience of farm life becomes bonding.

The proposed rules "take away some of those insulary benefits, working with your family, spending time with your parents, repairing a fence, or getting up the cows," she said.

The Labor Department's rules would keep the doors open to youths working with the FFA or in 4-H programs and with animals in certain other situations. However, some children, especially those younger than 16, could see their participation reduced if working for pay.

The federal agency has yet to draft and publicize the final rules. Still to be solidified is how any new rules would be enforced in a landscape as far reaching as the farming sector.

In the past three years, the Wage and Hour Division said it has hired more than 300 new investigators and has expanded its enforcement and compliance assistance programs in agriculture. Other tools at its disposal include surprise early morning visits on weekends, the use of photographs and video evidence, fines and greater interdepartmental sharing of information.

Don Race, a livestock farmer in Botetourt County, said that one of the best tools of enforcement is common sense. Over the years, the former Roanoke Catholic School cross-country coach has hired upward of 30 high schoolers to work on his farm.

Race said he won't let teenagers use chain saws and other dangerous equipment unless they've used it before under their parents' supervision. Some youngsters, he said, are careful and responsible around machinery, but it's the rest that farmers have to worry about, even if they are only a minority percentage.

"You worry about some of that stuff, and you try to judge the people. And I usually start the kids off with things that are as safe as possible," said Race, who said he makes sure that he has safety equipment in place, such as a seat belt and roll bar on his tractor.

But, he notes, "Everything outdoors isn't going to be perfectly safe, or indoors either. So where do you draw those lines? You have to use common sense."

Instead of added regulations, he said, education - both of the farm workers and their supervisors - is the best tool for improving safety on farms.

Maki said he believes the proposal has been "blown out of proportion" by the agriculture community and is unlikely to have any real negative effect on the industry. Citing examples of deaths and maimings that have happened recently, he lauded the federal efforts.

"Once you realize this is happening, and it happens in certain jobs over and over and over again, you got to do something."

But Goodlatte, the vice chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, called the proposed regulations a misdirected attempt by policymakers with an over-idealized notion of farm life.

"It just seems to me to be total micromanaging from Washington, D.C., in an area the U.S. Department of Labor just doesn't need to be working," said Goodlatte, who joined several lawmakers from both parties in a letter last month to Solis expressing their opposition to the proposed rules.

Goodlatte said he has seen the struggles that farmers have faced and believes that there is a need to preserve the intimacy of life spent on a farm.

Safety advocates, however, counter that there are many agriculture jobs that can be performed to instill a sense of duty in agriculture without putting young workers in harm's way.

"These measures are designed to save lives, to save limbs, and I think they should be embraced because farms are incredibly dangerous places," said Maki, whose Child Labor Coalition includes agricultural advocacy groups such as Farmworker Justice.

In its public comments, the coalition has pressed for the rules to be adopted as quickly as possible.

The Labor Department is reviewing the comments it received but said it is impossible to predict an exact date in which any new rules would be enacted.