What are the Minimum Age Standards for Agricultural Employment?
Resource:  https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs40.htm

• Youth ages 16 and above may work in any farm job at any time.
• Youth aged 14 and 15 may work outside school hours in jobs not declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor.
• Youth 12 and 13 years of age may work outside of school hours in non-hazardous jobs on farms that also employ their parent(s) or with written parental consent.
• Youth under 12 years of age may work outside of school hours in non-hazardous jobs with parental consent, but only on farms where none of the employees are subject to the minimum wage requirements of the FLSA.
• Local youths 10 and 11 may hand harvest short-season crops outside school hours for no more than 8 weeks between June 1 and October 15 if their employers have obtained special waivers from the Secretary of Labor.
• Youth of any age may work at any time in any job on a farm owned or operated by their parents.

However, kids even younger than 12 often accompany their parents to work on American farms and fields.  This means that farmworker children are being put at risk from a very young age – even before birth – from the pesticides, dangerous equipment, and other hazards populating thos

e environments.  Teenagers are permitted to operate various equipment from a young age, which corresponds to an increase in the rate of tragic accidents involving youth.  Though children are at the height of vulnerability when they are still in the womb, there are inadequate protections for farmworkers who are expecting a child.  Children also interact with their environment in fundamentally different ways than adults, yet this is not in regulators’ minds when setting standards for things such as pesticide use.

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What are the Hazardous Occupations in Agriculture?

Minors under 16 may not work in the following occupations declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor:

• operating a tractor of over 20 PTO horsepower, or connecting or disconnecting an implement or any of its parts to or from such a tractor;
• operating or working with a corn picker, cotton picker, grain combine, hay mower, forage harvester, hay baler, potato digger, mobile pea viner, feed grinder, crop dryer, forage blower, auger conveyor, unloading mechanism of a nongravity-type self-unloading wagon or trailer, power post-hole digger, power post driver, or nonwalking-type rotary tiller;
• operating or working with a trencher or earthmoving equipment, fork lift, potato combine, or power-driven circular, band or chain saw;
• working in a yard, pen, or stall occupied by a bull, boar, or stud horse maintained for breeding purposes; a sow with suckling pigs; or a cow with a newborn calf (with umbilical cord present);
• felling, buckling, skidding, loading, or unloading timber with a butt diameter or more than 6 inches;
• working from a ladder or scaffold at a height of over 20 feet;
• driving a bus, truck or automobile to transport passengers, or riding on a tractor as a passenger or helper;
• working inside: a fruit, forage, or grain storage designed to retain an oxygen-deficient or toxic atmosphere; an upright silo within 2 weeks after silage has been added or when a top unloading device is in operating position; a manure pit; or a horizontal silo while operating a tractor for packing purposes;
• handling or applying toxic agricultural chemical identified by the words “danger,” “poison,” or “warning or a skull and crossbones on the label;
• handling or using explosives; and
• transporting, transferring, or applying anhydrous ammonia.

The prohibition of employment in hazardous occupations does not apply to youths employed on farms owned or operated by their parents.  In addition, there are some exemptions from the prohibitions:

• 14 and 15-year old student learners enrolled in vocational agricultural programs are exempt from certain hazardous occupations when certain requirements are met; and
• minors aged 14 and 15 who hold certificates of completion of training under a 4-H or vocational agriculture training program may work outside school hours on certain equipment for which they have been trained.

PESTICIDE SAFETY EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN

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Children are at greater health risk from pesticide exposure than adults. Pesticides have been linked to numerous health problems, including asthma, dermatitis, learning disabilities, leukemia, brain tumors and certain childhood cancers. Several factors contribute to this vulnerability. We may think of children as “little adults”, but in fact, their bodies are not fully prepared to handle toxic chemicals.

AFOP recognizes the importance of educating children on how to protect themselves from pesticides to avoid immediate or future health hazards. We have created an interactive and bilingual curriculum called José Aprende Sobre los Pesticidas (Jose Learns About Pesticides) that is about a boy called “José” whose family works in the fields. Among many lessons,children are taught about how to dress fro the fields, as well as the importance of washing their hands before eating or going to the bathroom while and after being in the fields.

Children In the Fields Partnered with Student Action with Farmworkers to recreate the “Jose Aprende” curriculum into an a fun video in English and Spanish.

English:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXQg2bR6XeU

Spanish:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NwOYc8gIkk

Advocate

The voices of farmworker children are rarely heard and their struggles are rarely understood. The Children in the Fields Campaign is working to help them share their stories and become leaders in their own communities through farmworker youth photo exhibits, student-led conferences, and educational materials. In addition, AFOP hosts an annual Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Children Essay and Art Contest.

We must act now to ensure farmworker children are being afforded the same protection as other children.

• Learn about where your food comes from an d educate others about the plight of farmworker children
• Support educational programs for farmworker children
• Advocate for more protections for children who work in agriculture
• Support fair food and fair living wages for all farmworkers

Join local grassroots groups in your state..

In 2009, the Children in the Fields Campaign launched a new phase to increase grassroots efforts in five key states and garner support for better protection of farmworker children under the law, providing them with equal opportunities for success. Regional Coordinators in the farmworker communities of California, North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas have formed community coalitions and farmworker youth councils to raise awareness about the persistent issue of child labor in our agricultural system.To get involved with our grassroots campaigns, please visit:

Texas
Migrants in Action

North Carolina
NC FIELD Coalition

Migrant & Seasonal Farmworker Children

ART & ESSAY CONTESTS

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A HUGE THANK YOU TO OUR WONDERFUL SPONSORS

National Consumers League and Earth Justice

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ART  Ages:  10-13		ART  Ages 14-18
1st Place	CA – Joshua Simón	1st Place	CA – Julieta Cruz Flores
2nd Place	CA – Andrea Citlaly de Dios Garcia	2nd Place	CA – Brissa Jazmín Pimentel
3rd Place	NC – Yazmin Farias Sánchez	3rd Place	TX – Argimiro Jimenez
		3rd Place	TX – Pedro Gómez

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ESSAY Ages:  10-13		ESSAY Ages 14-18
1st Place	WA – Emily Camacho	1st Place	TX – Rose Christina Martinez
2nd Place	CA – Joel Santos	2nd Place	ID – Jesús Carrillo
3rd Place	NV – Laura Gabriela Gómez	3rd Place	ND – Annahi Garza

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ART Honorable Mentions Ages:  10-13		ART Honorable Mentions Ages 14-18
Honorable Mentions	Aaron Cruz Flores Evelyn Govea Jessy Rivas Nuñez Kelly Galindo Nayely Ortiz-Espinoza Brenda Molina Eleazar Gonzalez	Honorable Mentions	Caitlin Ruiz Estefani Ponce Sarahi Gonzalez Leslie Naranjo
ESSAY Honorable Mentions Ages:  10-13		ESSAY Honorable Mentions Ages 14-18
Honorable Mentions	Kelly Galindo Guadalupe Leon Hurtado Brayan Encarnacion Emanuel Mendez Lizbet Gaspar Hernández Maria Alejandra Angeles Joshua Muniz Lopez	Honorable Mentions	Jose Lopez Arianna Danielle Diaz Alondra García-Huizache Grecia Lomeli Barajas Magdali Lopez Garcia Oscar Sanchez Paola Caballero

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Follow us on social media!  @CIFCampaign

Please download and share our publications!

  Children In the Fields: The Stories You Should Know
(2019)

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Children In the Fields: The Facts You Should Know
(2018)

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Sowing the Seeds of Change: A Snapshot of Child Labor in America
(2012)

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Americas FW Children -Harvest of Broken Dreams
(2011)

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Children At Work – A glimpse into the lives of child farmworkers in the U.S.
(2009)

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Children In the Fields: An American Problem 
(2007)

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

AFOP invites you to join with us in assisting these children to obtain the same opportunities enjoyed by other children in the United States.

Here are some ideas for how you can get involved:

• Donate to our cause, so we can continue fighting injustice.
• Urge your state and federal elected representatives to support legislation that will correct the inequities in the Fair Labor Standards Act and protect child farmworkers.
• Support measures that will increase the wages of farmworker parents, so they do not feel compelled to bring their children to work.
• Volunteer your time and support championing educational programs that help migrant children.
• Contact your local media outlets to educate them and your fellow community members about the plight of child farmworkers.
• Follow us on social media.
  • Facebook:  @CIFCampaign
  • Twitter:  @CIFCampaign

For more information please contact:

Melanie Forti, CIFC Director
Tel:  202-384-1771
Email:  forti@afop.org
Donate Here!

Please follow us on social media:

@CIFCampaign

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For more information, contact:

Melanie Forti
Director of Children In the Fields Campaign
Email: forti@afop.org
Phone: (202) 384-1771

1120 20th Street, N.W.
Suite 300 South
Washington, D.C. 20036