ASTA applauds House of Representatives for Preserving America’s Family Farms

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) commends the U.S. House of Representatives for voting to pass the Preserving America’s Family Farms Act (H.R. 4157) Tuesday, July 24, 2012.

ASTA, along with 13 other agricultural organizations, sent a letter to the House of Representatives this week encouraging them vote in favor of H.R. 4157.

H.R. 4157 preserves the ability of youth to gain training and education by working on the farm, which was almost taken away by the U.S. Department of Labor last year, when they proposed overly burdensome regulations to agricultural producers. After hundreds of thousands of comments were submitted, the DOL withdrew the proposed regulation; however the threat to family farms still exists.

“While we all respect the obligations and responsibilities of the Department of Labor to ensure the safety of youth working on farms as delineated in the Fair Labor Standards Act, we believe that the approaches taken need to be well reasoned and not detrimental to the family farm or the youth participating in farm work,” noted ASTA in the letter.

This act protects an agricultural way of life from future child labor regulations that could limit the ability of youth to learn valuable skills by working on the farm.

Other organizations in support of H.R.4157 include the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Horse Council, American Soybean Association, International Association of Fairs and Expositions, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Council of Agricultural Employers, National Cotton Council, National FFA Organization, National Milk Producers Federation, National Pork Producers Council, United Fresh Produce Association and U.S. Apple Association.

The bill still needs to be passed by the Senate before being signed by the President. H.R. 4157 is sponsored by Rep. Thomas Latham (R-IA).