Children Who feed America

"Field of Yuma" by Peter Haden

"Child Labor Sill Exists"by Tyler Stockdale

There was a time in America where children as young as eight years old worked in horrendous conditions for little to no pay. These kids were sent to work by their family to help out during a difficult period. They were exposed to all sorts of dangerous machinery and dangerous chemicals. Many kids even died due to being in some of the dangerous working conditions, they had no voice. Finally, in 1938 the US passed the Fair Labor Standards Act or for short FLSA. (Grossman) This Act determines minimum wages, overtime pay, recordkeeping and lastly child labor. (United States Department of Labor). FLSA prohibited anyone younger than 14 from working, with only a few exceptions. This includes being employed by parents in non-hazardous occupations such as working as actors or performers, delivering newspapers, and performing certain agricultural work. (cite) After this law was passed Americas felt as the terrible child labor issue was now fixed but this is far from the case currently in the agriculture industry. Today child labor in agriculture is widespread across America. Children as young as 11 years of age work on different farmers across the country in nonregulated environments. They are exposed to dangerous machinery and dangerous chemicals. As well by them working in agriculture, these children are at risk of not receiving the proper education due to them working long hours and in some cases moving across the country to follow certain harvests in different seasons. In other industries, child labor laws are stated very clearly and are more strictly enforced than it is in the agricultural industry. As stated by the United States Department of Labor “The minimum age for employment in non-agricultural occupations is 14 years old. Hours worked by 14- and 15-year-olds are limited to Non-school hours;3 hours in a school day;18 hours in a school week;8 hours on a non-school day;40 hours on a non-school week;” (“Elaws - Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor”). “Violators of the child labor provisions are subject to a civil money penalty of up to $10,000 for each employee who was the subject of a violation”. (“Enforcement”) Due to the loosely placed laws for child labor in agriculture, and as well as the agriculture industry not properly being supervised to make sure the laws are followed; agricultural farmers mostly are never affected by getting penalized for violation of the child labor provisions. Considering all stated factors in addition to the previous laws that pertain to agriculture there needs to be more laws emplaced and the previous laws that are already established needs to be enforced tremendously.When you step in your local grocery store or any local farmers market there you have it, at the tip of your fingers you can obtain different fruits and vegetables. You don’t even think twice about if this is safe to consume or not. The United States is one of the only countries today who is very self-efficient when it comes to feeding their country. As stated by reporter Richard Marosi “American consumers get all the salsa, squash and melons they can eat at affordable prices. And top U.S. brands — Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, Subway, and Safeway, among many others — profit from produce they have come to depend on.” (Marosi 284) Most Americas have no clue about where their food comes from and who are the people working in order

"Field of Yuma" by Peter Haden

to satisfy American consumers Sadly, this is only cable because of migrant workers and their children. One of the main people who are affected by this are children of migrant workers who are working in agriculture today. In some cases around the globe that supplies some American realtors’ children are working to feed Americans. Reported by Richard Marosi “On many small and mid-sized farms, children still work the fields, picking chiles, tomatillos and other produce, some of which makes its way to the U.S. through middlemen”. (Marosi 284) Children all around the world are negatively impacted by American consumers as well. Is having a child working in dangerous conditions and exposed to thousands of dangerous chemicals worth the affordable produce in grocery stores or farmers market?According to the United States Department of Labor a child 14 or 15 years old can work in agriculture, on any farm, but only during hours when school is not in session and only in non- hazardous conditions. (“Child Labor Laws”) Although this is stated under The Department of Labor this is very loosely followed by agricultural farmers. In the documentary the Harvest (la choesha) which was released on November 20, 2010 follows 3 young children who were born to migrant workers are documented on their everyday lives working on different farms across the country. One of the youngest in the film was 12-year-old Zulema. In one scene Zulema was film standing on a very unsteady ladder picking apples off a tree. She was almost injured very badly due to terrible equipment given to her by the people over the farm she was working for at the time. Thought the documentary they also show the kids describing other incidences that has happened while working in the fields. Victor another child documented in the films describes when he came in contact with some chemicals that are used on the crops and how it began to melt his skin off a little. This shouldn't be acceptable in any aspect.Another major issue that children who work in agriculture are affected by is the lack of education that they can’t gain due to them working very long hours in the fields. These kids in some cases work up to hours a day 7 days a week. They also move around the country multiple times a year following certain harvest. This is shown in the documentary “The Harvest (La Cosecha)” as well when Perla another child in the documentary describing that she was held back a grade due to moving to another school and the school not having all the proper documents to place her in her right grade. The dropout rate for migrant children are the highest in the country compared to any other group of students.Child labor has been an ongoing issue in America and around the world. Children should never have to work in a dangerous environment that puts their lives at risk in order to satisfy the American consumer. And for this to be and ongoing issue is outrageous. The safety and welfare of children of all backgrounds should never be taken lightly in any aspect. The laws that are previously emplaced should be taken more seriously by the farmworkers who illegally employee children. And there also need to be more policies in place for the safety of all children/ teens who will work in the agriculture industry in the future.

Works cited
“Child Labor Laws.” Youth in Agriculture - Other, www.osha.gov/SLTC/youth/agriculture/other.html
“Enforcement.” U.S. Department of Labor, www.dol.gov/general/topic/youthlabor/enforcement.
Grossman, Jonathan. “Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938: Maximum Struggle for a Minimum Wage.” U.S. Department of Labor, https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/flsa1938
Marosi, Richard.” Hardship on Mexico’s Farms, a Bounty for U.S. Tables.” Food matter: 2nd ed., edited by Holly Bauer, Bedford St Martin’s. 2017. pp. 283-292.
Romano, U. Roberto, director. “The Harvest (La Cosecha)”. Shine Global, 20 Nov. 2010, www.shineglobal.org/project/the-harvest/.
"United States Department of Labor.” Elaws - Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor, webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/screen5.asp.
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