Working on a farm instills in youths a sense of responsibility, work ethic, and countless other invaluable lessons that will guide them for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Labor has proposed rules that would prohibit children under age 16 from performing many duties on a family farm – including all interaction with animals.
I believe that the values and life skills learned on the family farm are at the core of our Southwest Michigan community, which is why I co-sponsored a resolution calling on the department not to implement the new regulations.
Protecting youths in the workplace is a laudable goal, but the reality of these onerous rules would be to destroy the generational family farm and community organizations like 4-H and FFA that are central to our Southwest Michigan communities.
These federal proposals illustrate the vast disconnect between Washington bureaucrats and Midwest family farmers.
Senate Resolution 94 is a way to ensure the message is heard in Washington that their actions can have real, damaging effects on families and farmers in the real world.
The proposed revisions to the federal child labor regulations would effectively ban participation by youths in raising animals and showing them at the local county fair, milking the family cow or helping parents to feed the horses. The proposals are outrageous and must be stopped.
