I worked my ass off on our ‘family farm’ and often question the hours and time I put in. Was it a learning experience? Definately. Learning how to work hard is not a bad thing. Freezing your ears, hands and feet is. Learning how to birth animals and watching animals die, a good learning experience. Fucking over the feds in farm subsidies and other schemes, bad. I know there is no way to take back what was taken from me on the family farm and my FREE labor, but I am enthusiastic about the changes;
The Department of Labor has proposed 85 pages of new rules for child labor in agriculture. The rules haven’t been updated in 40 years and the agency says the changes are being made to protect children in one of the country’s most dangerous industries.
Two things stick out for me. First off, 85 pages of new rules is far to LITTLE and secondly, the rules not being changed in 40 years tells us something.
It used to be that farmers treated their children like working property on the family farm, (think pre-civil war) some still do, this is unfortunate. Let your kids be kids and let the work be done by MEN. And if those men are not capable, they should sell the farm.