Last Thursday the Department of Labor withdrew a regulation proposed last September that would have imposed stringent rules on farm labor.
The farming industry exuded praise on Thursday after the Department of Labor (DOL) axed a regulation proposed last September that would have imposed stringent rules on young people’s ability to help run their own family farms. The DOL statement, issued late last Thursday, affirmed, "The decision to withdraw this rule — including provisions to define the 'parental exemption' — was made in response to thousands of comments expressing concerns about the effect of the proposed rules on small family-owned farms."
Michigan farmers were particularly vocal in their opposition to the new rules, as they submitted hundreds of comments expressing honest concern over the proposal, which would’ve effectively abolished the existing system of agricultural education by barring young workers from feeding cattle, milking cows, stacking hale bales higher than a specified height, among a slew of other frivolous regulations.
"This is a tribute to the farmers all over the country who spoke up," asserted Ryan Findlay, legislative counsel for the Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB). "More than 500 Michigan farmers submitted comments on the rule directly, and many more contacted their members of congress, challenged administration officials on the rule, spoke out through online forums and aired their concerns in local papers."
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