The Future of Our Youth on Family Farms and Ranches

Jamie and I fencing away! Pictured behind
us is a braced corner post, which is what we
build at the start and end of each fence to
resist the tension coming from the pull
of the wires along the entire fence-line.

Up at 6 am to help Dad with chores~in for breakfast around 8:30~back outside from 9 till noon when Mom hollers that dinner (and it's DINNER, not LUNCH for all you city folk :P haha) is ready~after an hour break, back outside from 1 till 4 fencing, taking a break at 4 for lunch (the mid-afternoon snack)~evening chores until 6 or 7~then inside for supper.

While I know every farming and ranching family has a different routine, this is what a normal day during the summer months at the Mashino operation could look like. Reading that scenario above, did anyone see huge red WARNING signs flash before your eyes signaling a child that is being worked way beyond his or her limits? Not exactly...

Dad helping my youngest sister
 Kaci ~age 8~brand a steer
(a castrated male). Branding
 includes removing the hair off of a
small area on animal's back leaving
a symbol to prove ownership of the animal. 

The Department of Labor proposed a set of child labor rules last fall which would prohibit children under the age of 16 from working with or around machinery, power-driven equipment, livestock, chemicals and other hazards. While this wouldn't apply to youth who work on their parents' farms and ranches like myself, it would apply to other youth employed on farms and ranches owned by someone other than their parents. One question that remains is if these rules would apply to grandparents and other relatives who own the farms/ranches. According to The American Farm Bureau Federation, the Department of Labor announced earlier this week (1st week of February 2012), that there would be a re-proposal of the "parental exemption" of the rule, which prohibits youth from doing various agricultural activities on farms and ranches of which they don't reside.

My sisters and I getting ready to combine
a field of corn for our neighbors. What the
combine did with this field of corn is
stripped the ear of corn from the stalk
and then stripped the kernels off the ear
of corn. The corn kernels can then be sold
or ground up and fed to livestock. 

As a fourth generation agriculturalist, I know what a HUGE impact agricultural life has on a person. I have spent the past 18 years of my life working on my family's farm/ranch, as well as helping neighbors on their farms and ranches. One thing I have learned through all of this is that no one can succeed by themselves. We all must work together to accomplish what needs done. With the world population to reach over 9 billion by 2050, US farmers and ranchers have the responsibility of increasing their production of their food products (crops, livestock, etc.). By putting restrictions on the age of laborers on family farms and ranches, they will be putting restrictions on the amount of food US farmers and ranchers will be able to produce, leading to a shortage of food and billions of hungry humans.

While I know that accidents happen and yes, innocent lives have been tragically lost due to farm accidents, the same is true of about any other job, not just agriculturally based ones. Stripping youth of experiences on farms and ranches is no way to make these accidents less prevalent. In my opinion, this would make this issue worse. Most of us know that it's easier to learn while you are young. Starting to work on farms and ranches at a younger age would enable youth to learn how to go about agricultural practices in the safest and most efficient ways.

I'm lucky to have parents who own our farm/ranch, which allows me to work on it no matter how these child labor rules end up. But, I feel for other people my age and younger whose parents don't own the farms and ranches they work on. If these rules do become law, so many youth who dream of one day owning a farm or ranch of their own will be deprived of the experience they need to serve as the next generation of agriculturalists.