Labor department to distance youth from farm work

Proposals that would regulate child labor on farms and ranches have left agricultural professionals nationwide disgruntled, and they have until today to offer comment. Local farmers and ranchers so far have expressed little concern over the proposed changes to the agricultural occupations order under the Fair Labor Standards Act, though many children pitching in on area farms likely would be affected. The proposal would prohibit farmworkers under age 16 from participating in agricultural work with animals, pesticide handling, timber operations, manure pits and storage bins, according to an August press release from the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division in Washington, D.C. It also would prohibit youth under age 16 from operating almost all power-driven equipment, a regulation that has applied to nonagricultural workers under the age of 16 for about 50 years. They also would be prohibited from operating power-driven equipment while using electronic or communication devices. Additionally, workers under age 18 could not be employed in the storing, marketing and transporting of raw farm product materials, the release said. Youth under age 18 could not work in country grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feed lots, stockyards, livestock exchanges or livestock auctions...more