House Democrats seek to raise the minimum age for farm work from 12 to 14 with a new bill, aiming to end a decades-old double standard in child labor laws.

A different standard for agriculture: Federal labor law allows children to be hired to work on farms starting at age 12 due to a carveout with origins in the Jim Crow South.
* Children can work any number of hours as long as they don’t miss school.
* At 16, children can operate heavy machinery and perform tasks at any height while working on a farm without any protections against falling, unlike in other industries.

Proposed legislation: The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety would raise the minimum ages for agricultural work to match all other occupations.
* Democratic Congressman Raul Ruiz of California is one of the bill’s sponsors.

Opposition from farmers: Previous versions of the legislation received pushback from farms that see the bill as a threat to family traditions.
* The current bill includes exemptions for family farms.

Child labor in agriculture: Even if the bill passes, Margaret Wurth from Human Rights Watch says it might not completely end child labor in agriculture, as many families depend on the income of their children.

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