Theory, Practice, and Harvesting Anger

"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is." - Yogi Berra

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." - St. Bernard of Clairvaux

It seems like the news these days just keeps repeating. The GOP Presidential contest has become a circus, along with the continuing - and seemingly perpetual - standoff in Congress over extending the payroll tax cut and federal unemployment benefits. So we thought we'd turn our attention today to a different manufactured disaster, this time in farm fields and barns across America.

In case you missed it, the U.S Labor Department is on the verge of approving new child safety standards for working in agriculture, for the first time since 1970. In theory, setting higher safety standards for kids and young teens, in one of the most dangerous fields of employment in the nation, sounds like a good idea - and it's one we'd normally applaud. The childhood injury rate on farms has fallen nearly sixty percent from 1998 to 2009, according to the National Farm Medicine Center. The fact remains that fatality rates for young people working in agriculture are still many times higher than the rates for American young people working in any other industry.

The problem with the Labor Department's standards isn't their intent. It's what they call for kids and teens not to be able to do.

Current federal labor law already limits, to some degree, what young people can do, both on farms that their parents own, as well as other farms they might work at - such as extended relatives, family friends, or even 4-H and FFA farm project centers. However, the new proposed regulations may limit kids so much they can't be involved in groups like the FFA or 4-H. They may not even be able to take odd jobs, like hauling hay - or summer jobs, like detasseling.

While consumer protection and advocacy groups like Public Citizen have said the new regulations don't actually ban young people from detasseling, the new regulations from the Department of Labor don't specifically make it clear what regulations apply in certain circumstances. This may actually make things worse for everyone involved - teen workers, the farmers that depend on seasonal teen labor, and even ag support groups, like the FFA and 4-H.

We understand the concerns of Americans who enjoy farming, those who want to teach their kids about the family business, as well as those young people who rely on ag-related jobs for the money they use for everything from prom and presents, to school lunches and their first car.

We also understand where those in the Department of Labor are coming from; it's their job to make sure every worker in America has safe working conditions, especially children that we allow to be in our workforce.

The problem is that groups on both sides of this debate don't seem to be talking to each another at all. Sadly, just like the idiots in Congress, instead of moving toward a better government with better solutions for everyone, both sides of this battle seem to want to sow seeds of anger and misunderstanding, blaming the other side as blind fools who don't know squat about the subject in contention.

As with Republicans and Democrats in Washington, DC, if all we ever plant is hate and distrust, we can't see how either side will reap anything but more trouble.