AgWired

Just prior to the opening general session of the Cattle Industry Convention, the U.S. Labor Department announced that a proposal which would have barred children from many on-farm tasks will be revised to allow broader exemptions for parents who own or run agricultural operations.

“I have got a news flash for all of you,” said National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) president Bill Donald as he took the stage and shared the news with some 6,000 cattle industry members from around the country who broke into applause. “That is big news. Your voices were heard – our voices were heard. This goes right to the very fiber of who we are in this country.”

Donald noted that HR departments love to hire farm kids to fill positions “because they have a work ethic. They don’t just sit on their butts and play video games. They do their chores before they catch their school bus and do them again when they get home.” Bill’s comments and the crowd’s reaction will be the next segment of “Bill on Beef”!

The proposed rules would have prevent children younger than 16 from using most power-driven equipment on farms and prohibit anyone under 19 from working in grain bins, stockyards and feedlots.

Listen to Bill’s comments during his speech here: NCBA president Bill Donald

2012 Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Agriculture won a few battles in the dust-up over farm dust regulation last year, but it remains to be seen who will win the war.

Farm dust regulation ranks high on the list of policy priorities for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in 2012, with the goal of getting the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act that was introduced last year passed by Congress and signed by the president. “The bill did pass the House of Representatives by a very commanding margin and very strong bi-partisan support,” said NCBA Deputy Environmental Counsel Ashley Lyon. “It is in the Senate and we are looking for ways to get a vote on this bill.”

Ashley says the big problem is that the president has already threatened to veto the bill. “The president continues to say that regulation of farm dust is a myth and he does not want any authority taken away from EPA,” she said. “It is not a myth, it is very real.”

The good news is that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has said she plans to retain the current dust standard instead of doubling it as was proposed in some early rulemaking drafts. “But we still are pushing the legislation because it would be a permanent fix instead of just a five year fix,” said Ashely.

Listen to an interview with Ashley about farm dust here: Ashley Lyon interview

2012 Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album