A Missouri family farmer and past chair of the American Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee –testified against the Department of Labor’s re-proposed child labor rule last week before a House small business subcommittee. Chris Chinn and her family run a hog, cattle, row crop and feed mill operation.
“We would like to see the whole thing just completely be removed because it’s going to prohibit our ability to train the next generation to come back home and take over the family farm.”
While there were indications that the parental exemption would be removed from the proposed rule – Chinn tells Brownfield they’ve seen nothing in writing from the Labor Department and that’s what’s making the ag industry nervous.
“Even if they take the parental exemption out it still leaves the question, can grandkids still go work on grandma and grandpa’s farm – or, can kids go work on their aunt and uncle’s farm,” says Chinn, “And that was some questions we brought up during the hearing last week but we never did get an answer on those questions.”
Chinn says the proposed rule runs the risk of keeping her kids from working on a relative’s farm, “Our son collects eggs from grandma’s hens and she pays him for that. He helps her clean up the hen house,” Chinn says, “Our daughter helps grandma breed sows up in the hog barn. She also does some power washing of alley ways and stuff for grandma, as well, for payment. So, these are all things under the new proposed regulations our children would no longer be allowed to do.”
Chinn says the rule would also prevent the use of hand or foot-powered machinery by children under 16 to include garden hoses, flash lights and similar things used on the farm. She says children need safety on the farm but they also need hands-on experience in order to learn.
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