Draft Day: Agriculture Picks Kids in the First Round.

If you think that the recent announcement by the United States Department of Labor to drop its proposed legislation aimed at severely limiting the activities of kids on farms and ranches is solely a major win for agriculture you're forgetting that if someone wins, someone also loses.

That loser is anti-agriculture. While not frontline proponents of these proposed rules, you can bet that they were licking their chops in hopes that the Obama administration would get them shoved through.  The reason they had their pom poms out and cheerleading skirts on is simple: whenever the gap between producers and consumers gets bigger, they score. It is pivotal for their team's survival to maintain a large gap between producers and consumers.  Had the rule gone through, farmers and ranchers would have lost a major player for telling the true story of agriculture, our youth. Getting hands on experience in day-to-day operations of farms and ranches is vital for teaching kids a myriad of life lessons including responsibility, hard work, and trust not just the tangible skills of driving a tractor or pulling a calf, all of which seem to be an endangered species in today's society.  Kids take these lessons and skills from the farm and share them with the rest of America.  Groups like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) recognize the power of youth to influence the outcomes of both the present and the future and have developed programs the implement their ideologies for children and teachers alike.

However, if anti-Ag was looking for a close game, they were surely disappointed.  With a stellar performance from our star running backs like Senators Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts along with the hard work of many industry groups and individual farmers and ranchers, DOL dropped the rule and announced that is has no intention of pursuing it further during the Obama administration.  Instead they will focus on the development of educational programs to increase safety for kids in agriculture. Everyone that submitted comments, wrote letters, testified, or tweeted about the rule to increase awareness deserves a pat on the back was and integral part of chalking up another "W".

- DJ