Well yeah. I remember my older brother working a field in Illinois at 13 years old. Hard work, but he earned money. I was jealous for him. Nobody was holding a gun to his head.

At 13 i worked 8 hours a day throwing hay bales for farmers in the area. it was hard but i earned the money i got and i do not feel abused or used i loved it and it kept me out of trouble so whats the big deal?

We called it jobs when I was a kid. I did things from roll Sod into rolls to bailing hay and what ever else was available. Worked on Farms after school and on Weekends also.

Just how many times did you all hand your pay checks over to the family to put food on the table? Do you think these kids get to use there earned money on video games? I am thinking you like a lot of us worked in the summer while schoolwas out, and did not worry about eating during the school year. That is the big difference.

Well I'm not a migrant, I'm 100% American, born in the USA and I deplore the fact that we have any migrants harvesting our food. I was 9 years old in the early 50"s and I picked strawberrys, raspberrys, blackcaps, beans, peaches, apples, and I also strung beans, bucked hay bales and cleaned ditch until I was about 16. After that, until I left home, I worked in super markets and in a animal sales yard until I left home. I bought most of my school clothes and had my own money. I never got an allowance in my life and never took well fare or handouts.

Now I'm 70 and enjoying a great retirement. I wish every kid had the freedom that I had to GO OUT AND GET A JOB so they could learn to be responsible with money.

Well, I'm not an migrant. I'm 100% American and I deplore the fact that we have illegal aliens working in our fields. I worked from the time that I was 9 years old harvesting strawberrys, raspberrys, beans, blackcaps, peaches and apples. I also bucked hay bales, cleaned ditch and worked in an animal sales yard until I was 16. After that I worked as a bag boy in a supermarket. I bought most of my school clothes and always had money in my pocket.

Our country would be well served if kids had an opportunity to work and earn money of their own rather than sit around bored and getting themselves into trouble.

Myself, I helped clean the house, did laundry, prepare meals other household chores. Helped Dad by mowing the lawn, shovel snow, house repairs, work in the garden, chores, never received nor expected a dime. Then I got to have a job, during the summer and after school. On snow Days a buddy and myself would get 2 shovels, walk into town and go door to door asking if they would like their walks/sidewalk and driveway shoveled. We used to laugh for at some of the homes the kids would be indoors watching TV and they were paying us a buck each to clear their walks and drive. I did things like buy extra school clothes, bought my first car and paid all expenses, bought my first deer rifle plus by rules a percentage of earnings went into a bank account. My Mom's car broke down and it was no longer worth repairing. My brothers and Sisters and myself got together and we bought Mom a nice car. It was worth every penny with the surprise look on Mom and Dads face and Mom going back and forth giving us all hugs. I'm in my 50's and Mom passed away and she personally left some money aside for each of us kids. Everyone of us took the money back to the bank and we put it in Dad's account. I still to this day go out and Mow Dad's lawn etc. Many kids now days Lack work ethic, responsibility and accountability, its a shame.

@roc1960:

Even a hamster can run till its legs fall off. There is nothing honorable in being an indentured servant. Are you one of those farmers who is working six-year-olds in the fields, by any chance?

So some of you, including myself did home chores or for those who lived on farms, helped their parents. That is admirable. And you came in for dinner and ate a balanced meal. However, these children are being abused in the heat for 9 hours, probably without a decent break in those 9 hours, not much food, then they have 4 more hours of school. So they have NO childhood, no swings, swimming, football or baseball. I'm all for the work ethic, but I'm also for these children to learn to be a child! How many of you in here would work for 9 hours picking crops in triple digit weather and not stop for a beer?? Most people work 40-50 hours a week, and have the right to sit down and drink and eat good food, picked by these kids. It's not at all honorable folks.

I don't think anyone could know what these kids go through until they walk in their shoes.

The more debilitating problem here is the early end of their formal education. This is when older family, church groups or even school systems, counselors, etc should step in and offer prep for GED diplomas. A GED diploma would open the way to Community College classes and different job markets.( You can take a practice GED test for free at most public libraries and study classes and booklets are usually offered through adult ed in the county.)

Growing up in Illinois, early 90's, I did the same thing & detassled corn through out the summer. It was great! I wasn't forced to do it, I wanted to. I never had to hand over my check, but I would have if needed. I had spending money and was staying out of trouble. Starting out, I was paid minimum wage and it went up $1.00 every summer after that.

My husband worked in the neighbors fields when he was 11 and 12. He was the only white boy and he had to work extra hard to prove himself. He picked beans all day long. His mother was an alcoholic who never held a job and he worked to provide food, clothing, entertainment for him and his little brother. He turned into an amazing man, father and husband. I think MY children should work in the fields at least a little. They all go to a rich prep school and actually they are great kids and straight A students but it is a nightmare to get them to clean their rooms. Obviously this needs to be monitored--we can't have child slave labor but a few hours of hard work never killed anyone.

This law was put in place when we were putting labor laws in place. It has to do with small family farms and the children of the owners, NOT FOREIGN LABORS OR EVEN CHILDREN OF PEOPLE HIRED BY THE OWNER. We also have laws in affect that make it illegal to hire someone that doesn't have a work visa or some other type of visa for migrant farm workers, (I don't work for INS) This law also states that children can work on the family farm but still need to attend school and if they don't go to school they can't work!. The media is trying to make a story out of something that employers are doing illegally and trying to make it look like it's legal. Again this reporter is lying about who is doing this illegal work.

I started caddying at 12, carrying golf bags that weighed nearly as much as I did for well off people around a five mile course maybe three times a day if I was lucky. That would be like an 8 hr day making $10-$15. which was a fair amount of money in 1961. Mostly you went out once and sat around waiting to get called playing euchre to pass the time. The three years I did that taught me a lot about class structure, capitalism. By 15 I was ready for real jobs.

I don't think kids younger than 12 should be working. They should be in school and having summers to themselves and learning about the way other people and the world works. Learning to work can wait until 12 and even then it should be something they want to do, not something they have to do under duress.

Shandril, I was raised with a work ethic, responsibility, accountability, We didnt sit around expecting a hand out. We had our work to do at home plus we got off our butts and worked. I joined the USAF at 17 right out of high school, both older brothers Army, Father USAF. After Basic and School I came home on leave and bought a brand new Monte Carlo off the lot and paid for it myself and drove to my first Duty Station. I own my own landscaping business at this time, I do not hire illegals but have had to down size due to lack of help. Teenagers now days don't want to work or expect over ten an hour and be able to talk and text on the phone all day. So in answer to your questions I do not hire 6 year olds! The last decent teenager worked for me all through High School. When he graduated I personally bought him nice car to go to college. He still works for me in the summer. What did your kids do this summer besides the phone and video games?

$10 to $15 an hour as a kid in 1961, that was a good wage for adults then.

Sounds like we're creating a Chinese style uneducated peasant class. Good for us.

Cavalier, what did your kids do all summer, video games and their new I Phone?

You're right.. the No Child Left Behind Policy from BUSH helped our public education system so much. What free checks are coming out ? I didn' get a free check, where do I go to get one?

Blame the parents of these kids and not the farm owner. If the parents came to country by sneaking in then it is their fault that they live in the shadows and work in the fields for less than minimum wage. They could have tried it the legal way and get a work visa. With that simple document they could have avoided the fields and got work in a different line that paid better. On a side note, If I tried, what they are getting away with here, in Mexico, I would be arrested and thrown into one of their crappy prisons fighting for my life.

I picked beans and berries when I was young.

I didn't start at 8 but I was still young.

Didn't need the money, my father earned a good income as a professor and an engineer.

But it was fun, something to do in the summer and gave me some spending money that I EARNED.

Looking at the work ethics of kids today we need more kids working the farms.

Quite honestly some of the hardest most motivated workers in America today are the Mexicans.

Work is honorable, be it in the fields, the back yard, or in a laboratory or classroom. As long as the government allows illegals to work here, and have parents willing to put them to work while lying to their employers (and have employers who have employees willing to encourage lying to keep their boss happy) why would anyone think that these same folks would worry about following the law?

Human trafficking is alive and well in our nation also, and yet it goes largely unreported.

It just seems like there is a constant drumbeat of judgment, condemnation, while our ICE officers no longer know how to do their jobs due to Obama and his edicts that force them to ignore the law and existing policy, we have millions of illegals escaping prosecuting after being apprehended, we have a USDA working with Mexico to make sure illegals know that they qualify for foodstamps.

Too many people are feeding from the government trough, and the elitist answers have no tread. Until illegals are swiftly deported and labor law is the same for everyone, and we do not treat imported foods with tariffs to level the playing field, nothing is going to change.

Toiling away all day performing monotonous tasks is a sad waste of a young mind at 8 years old. At 12, yeah maybe, as long as they received some of the rewards, under the approval of the parents of course. All of it should only be after school work though.

Hey, are we going to start whipping the kids. You know, because it is good for them and will teach them a lesson?

To Confussed-1578043:

Did you even watch the video all the way through?

The reporter said, and I paraphrase, that he wanted to make it clear that most of the young people they talked to were born here; that none of them worked on small family farms; and that they, at least in the case of the 15-year old boy most featured, did attend school for 4 hours each day, after his grueling (my word) 8-9 hours in the field picking grapes... in the hot sun, in the 106-degree temperature (my words).

Growing up in the 70's back in Illinois I used to mow yards from sunup to sundown. Riding mower, walk behind mower and a gas powered edger. Didn't hurt me one bit. Taught me a lot about hardwork and success.

Exactly, Denver (#3.19). Comparing our little school holiday gigs, mowing, shovelling snow, crop picking, with the inescapable grind of these baby kids’ work is ridiculous. Our parents had a home, we had a bed, we could stop whenever we liked, and the money was for our pockets.

Look at the legislators’ reaction to changing the law of 70+ years ago: ‘it would hurt family farms’. Yeah, OK if kids are working for their parents. The ones working for Aiello and Uesugi are certainly not. Cunning bastards, calling them family farms to appeal to our innate American community spirit.

So there it is, in black and white, for us to clearly see: legislators aim first and foremost to protect businesses.

Then why the hell are we electing them to run our citizen lives? Let’s come out in the open: have 2 separate governments, 1 that caters strictly to business and another legislative body that represents the people. Businesses, big and small, already bought theirs; it’s time to have ours, for John and Jane Doe.

Business taxes go to theirs, private sector taxes go to ours. Imagine the chaos as businesses are made to pay for what they demand. Corporations are people! What a sick joke that is.

Ours is a referendum system, pure and simple single electronic votes. No lobbyists, pork perks, kickbacks.

Gee, can't wait, 1984 Big Brother becomes 2084 Little Buddy.

Okay city-raised girl here... through out the 1970s and 1980s, my friends and I didn't work in fields we worked in homes as babysitters and mother's helpers earning $2-3/hours looking after multiple small children and their friends, cleaning the houses, making the meals and praying to God that the father of the house wouldn't decide to "come home early", that the mother and her friends wouldn't spend the afternoon boozing and making a big mess for us to clean up or that big brother and his friends wouldn't be there. I spent summers working in isolated cottages with no outside access and I worked as a summer counsellor at children's aid camps. All of that money paid for my school cothes, my transit fares, my costs. I considered it a point of pride to be able to pay my own way by the time I was 13. My earnings didn't put food on our table but they did put extras there.

For those screaming just how bad this is...no one put a gun to their heads and made them cross the border to begin with and it actually is open to cross south as well if it really is that bad...what they are doing must not be as bad as what they did back home or they would not still be here doing it.

For the most part these kids wouldn't be in school since the migrant working season is usually in the Summer. For the migrant families this is how they support the family, and the whole family pitches in. I've read of migrant families owning homes in a few states so they can return year after year to that location for work. There are a lot of summer migrant workers in the area where I live, and there are schools and various programs that provide educational opportunities not only for the children, but for the entire family..free of charge. They are welcomed into the churches of their choice. The township also organizes soccer and baseball teams made up of the children in various age groups of migrants so the kids can have the "kid" experience. There are picnics andother recreational activities provided for migrant families. It's been a way of life for migrant families for generations, and while the work is hard, I doubt they'd want to sit at a desk all day and stay in one area indefinitely.

How disgusting! These immigrants crossing the border taking jobs away from Americans who are standing in line to do this work but nobody will hire them. All unemployed Americans should march on these farms and demand to be hired so we can send the immigrants back home. Here's your chance Arizona!

I agree this is sad but what do you do?! How do you fix it? Well meaning Americans don't like the fact that overseas sweat shops employ children, so they refuse to buy from them. The result? The kids lose those jobs and turn to prostitution to survive. While the migrant worker situation is sad, it does allow these families to stay together and allows everyone to contribute to the family. If the kids couldn't work, then the families could not do this work and they might not have ANYTHING. It's easy to sit and pass laws against this sort of thing, but you don't necessarily help the kids or the families by doing so.

And there befor the grace of God, I go.

CHANGE it! Go ahead. Make their families suffer even more.

Oh and these poor people own the fields and crops? No they don't if you have a propblem with this talk to the land owners. They are too cheap to hire over-paid lazy American workers. All they do is stand around and complain and wonder when break time is. These people aren't to blame. No demand for services then they would be out of a job.

The land owners should be charge with human trafficking, how would these people know that there are jobs for them in the field. So pay an American 15 dollars and hour to do the same thing, don't forget insurance beneifits and vacation. Then when you go to get groceries apples will be 3.50 per pound. It's all about the white man using people to make their pockets fat. makes me sick that people are blaming these poor children, they didn't ask to come here and be exploited

people want to pick and choose when its ok for immigrants to be here. What about the LA gangs, mostly from El salvador. Don't think everybody named Lopez is Mexican either. People in this country are so small minded and ignorant, its just ridiculous. Deport the gang members and let the field hands stay because its good for our economy- Horrible people out there exploting these poor people. They have dreams for their families just like the rich bas%$&$ making their pockets fat from these peoples sore backs and aching feet. Hope they feel good about themselves.

This is really a question of child care. The parents have no choice but to have the kids in the field with them. Child care cost as much a they make. Make child care free and the children will be there. The parents are not depending on the children for income but they have to be responsible for them.

VET- how do you know they are Mexicans? probably from El Salvador most likely. You are quick to judge when you don't have all the imformation. You live in the north so what happens in border towns in the south is really none of your concern. You are in a country that is famous for violating human rights of other people thinking that you are better than them, Vietnam- I'm sure that you were one of the guys that raped the women over there during war time.

you all really need to be more concerned about the Asian take-over in this country and not to mention the muslims. They flew over here with stamps in their passports and a free ride. For what? Do you see "mexicans" Trying to blow up military bases and compounds. I don't think so. You need to see the real threat to this country. Real outsiders, that don't care about anything but trying to use us to better themselves. Talk trash about our country and way of life. Ban imported hoodies from China. and the people too.

I see the talking heads are at it again- they failed to get their family farm destroying bill passed and are now pulling out the woe is me stories to get Americans outraged so they can try it again. These kids shouldn't be here anyway and we already have mandatory education laws to protect OUR kids- we do not need what they are trying to push.

So, lemme get this straight.

These people come to our country ILLEGALLY because their country is a war zone, and I'm supposed to feel bad?

These people come to our country ILLEGALLY because our criminal and corrupt government doesn't enforce the massive laws we already have regarding immigration on the books, and I'm supposed to feel bad?

These people come to our country ILLEGALLY, willingly bring their children, allow them to work on farms and I'm supposed to feel bad?

Look, farming is hard work. As many on this thread have stated from their own experience, there is nothing easy when you own and work a farm. I applaud your efforts. Our family grew pickling cucumbers. Imagine a 5 acre plot with a beautiful mat of leaves about 6-12 inches high covering the ground. Under those leaves are thousands of cucumbers about 4-6 inches long, if they're much bigger they're no good. You have to walk down the aisle move the leaves to find the cucumbers and harvest them. We grew 20 acres and my siblings and I started picking when we were 5-6 years old. Hell, it was easier then because we didn't have to bend down as far. And yes, we got up at 4 am to get ready to pick for 2-3 hours before school. during peak season. You only have a limited time to harvest crops.

We never got an allowance or paid for our labor. My dad said your allowance is the roof over your head, the clothes on your back and the food in your stomach. None of us were, or are, overweight, no one smokes or drinks to excess and none of us are suffering any long term psychological trauma from working as children (well my one brother is kinda weird). We earned our own money working on other farms when our work was done at home. We all bought our own cars when we got our license and were responsible for their upkeep and gas. We didn't wear the latest fad clothes, most of them were hand-me-downs anyway. We weren't wealthy but we all respected each other and those in our community, we understood the value of a dollar and what it takes to EARN IT! We had great harvests and we had not-so-good harvests. My dad always put money aside in a rainy-day fund, he had a strong relationship with the bank in our town and never asked anyone for anything.

I feel bad about these kids being dragged around the country but that is THEIR parent’s decision.

What amazes me is that NBC Bay Area can find all these cases but our government can't. Or should I say, doesn't want to find them. There may not be any laws about children working in agriculture but there ARE laws that are supposed to prevent ILLEGAL ALIENS from entering our country. Many get outraged about these kinds of issues yet they advocate amnesty. The assumption is that by being nice and understanding, the illegal’s will do the same. They don't, and they won't. When you have the amount of waste, fraud, abuse and corruption in government as we do, and the collusion with industries, this is what happens.

Many blame the corporations for all our woes but they forget the typical wink-winks they give and get to the government that allows this to continue. You want to clean up the problems? Clean up the government. Rather than creating endless rules, laws and regulations how about creating some simple ones that everyone can understand and ENFORCE THEM!

Aggrevatedofficeworker:

RE: your post #1.48

These may be family owned farms but when they employ 180 workers full time on a pryroll and 500 to 600 contract workers on a seasonal basis, they are commercial enterprises. Look, I have no problem with kids this age working AFTER school for a couple hours or even 8 hours a day in the summer. However, if these kids are working full time and not going to school, as the article states, then it is child abuse in my opinion. Perhaps you should take ALL the facts into consideration before chastising those who are of the same opinion as myself. In short, try to have some empathy for people rather than a blanket criticism of those who differ in opinion than yourself. You may find it will make your life more fulfilled and your outlook a lot brighter. God Bless and have a GREAT day!

I wonder how many on here are praising the hard work ( at the expense of education) and raising lazy butt kids who won't even clean their rooms.

Jim Spence:

RE: your post #1.49

I suggust you consider that the CHILDREN are not to blame for their circumstances. If child abuse is occuring, FOR ANY REASON, the authorities should, and will, put the perpatrators behind bars and place the child in foster care. Or would you prefer that the kids suffer because of the poor decisions of the parents? I would hope you would say the kids should not suffer but, of course, that is up to you! Have a GREAT day!

"Thousands of children, many too young to drive, are hard at work putting in long hours in brutal conditions to make sure the rest of us eat well — and cheaply.... Advocates say the number nationwide may be as high as half a million."

Obama has had almost 4 years to address this issue - yet not a peep. Why not?

Oh, that's right - he takes the Hispanic vote for granted - he only has to make a few vague promises that are conveniently ignored once every 4 years.

More than likely these are children who work with their families doing what they are accustomed to doing. If illegal aliens from south of the border seek refuge here and are willing to work under these circumstances the corporations are glad to oblige them for the cheap labor.

Wow listen to all the whining. Unemployment is a stubborn above-8% where it's been stuck since that near trillion dollar "stimulus" bill signed in 2009 by Obama that was supposed to keep it from going above 8% and create millions of "shovel ready" and "green energy" jobs. But let's focus on kids doing things in fields that this nation has seen since Jamestown was formed! (For you Obama voters, Jamestown was America's first settlement in 1607).

So pay an American 15 dollars and hour to do the same thing, don't forget insurance beneifits and vacation. Then when you go to get groceries apples will be 3.50 per pound. It's all about the white man using people to make their pockets fat.

See-what: that's one of the best examples of sarcasm I've read in some time. Except you missed the mark on the apple prices: they'd be more like $10 a pound if the pickers were paid a "livable wage" of $15/hr with full benefits as the liberals call it. I mowed lawns at age 12. I worked on my grandfather's farm at 10 rowing, planting, and pulling potatoes, turnips, squash, and shucking corn (a great learning lesson on survival and self-sustainability I may have to fall back on the way this nation is headed). I started helping cleaning up after breakfast, lunch, and dinner at age 8 or so. Oh the humanity!

Nobody wants forced child slave labor taking them away from school as this article states. Ever. So where are the child welfare government drones we read about all the time that take kids away from parents that use a belt to spank their children? Nary a peep from them on this? REALLY? In any event, I don't consider any of the above examples forced labor that I experienced. I am forever grateful at the experiences and lessons learned. Of course, today you have people thinking it's wonderful that Obama signed Obamacare which keeps your children on your own medical plan up to age 25. Who the hell needs to get out there and work and learn when you can just be a freeloading moocher living in mommy and daddy's basement well into your 20s? Of course, in this economy today and a lack of Obamajobs, that's the only option for many.

Children have been working in the fields with their parents for thousands of years and it was not just Mexicans. I am white and came from a poor family of eight kids, we all worked in the fields just to live and that was back in the 50's and early 60's. I was the oldest at 14 and I had fun plus I must admit picking up 50 lb sacks of potato's and throwing them on a moving truck buffed me up considerably. But all in all I did not like it because of the way we were treated. The farm we worked on was hundreds of acres, and we never knew who owned it. The problem was these farmers owned you from the minute you started working for them. They had small stores that sold groceries and necessities and allowed you to charge for them until you were payed, then you gave them their money back and the cycle started over again and the products were usually always expired. Also the foreman sold acholol to the men and they stayed drunk when not working. The farmer also supplyed a huge barn that they had converted into stalls for the workers to sleep in, except if you were a family you had a small area blocked off for them. We did this for one summer and I was never so glad to get away from that. My Dad and my Mom had what amounted to a third grade education. We obtained a ride back to Mobile, Al. and somehow my Dad got a job at the Alabama Shipyard and he learned to weld, things got a little better after that. But I ended up droping out of school and in the end out of the eight kids one completed high school, two made it to the eleventh grade and the rest quit as soon as the law would allow. It was a hard life but you know, at sixty three I really do not regret my childhood. Life is life and I believe you make what you want of it, it all depends on you personaly. Everyone cannot be rich and everyone cannot go to college, and until they invent a new way for handling trash there will always be a need for drop outs and yard labor for rich people, O and field labor. By the way I started working in construction and until the bottom fell out did fairly well, We were never on food stamps and we never collected welfare. I must say tho I am grateful for social security as I was never able to save any money.

But I do see them laying all over their front porches from sunup to sundown, riding in their $50,000 SUVs, and contaminating the peace and quiet with Mexican polka music.

Oh so here we go again, yammering about the $50K SUVs. And because they're Mexican, that automatically makes them illegals. I'd say "Mexican polka music" is no worse than rap/hip hop music that kids play with the bass turned up so loud that your walls vibrate. But golly, I don't go off on a tangent claiming that those kids are delinquents. Or illegals.

Really Vet, you need to get a grip. Get some therapy dude....

Well said Jerry. My grandfather was forced to go to work at 10 for his family after his father was killed working on a railroad (long before the OSHA days). I'm a college graduate and I can tell you that I know several people who never even graduated from high school that earn more money than I do with their own business (plumbing, HVAC, and landscaping). But of course, they didn't create their businesses, someone else did it for them according to Obama. I guess I got in the wrong line of work: being a government mindless bot: having someone else create a business for me that I can live off of. Damn did I miss that calling.

Actually, this has been going on for thousands of years throughout the World.

The reason children have a 'Summer Vacation' from school is because farmers needed time for their children to help harvest the crops just before Fall.

These kids are learning the value of work and thusly occupied, they have little chance for mischief. We have conveniently ignored the fact that throughout our country's history, many were required to work at a young age.

This could be on the family farm or elsewhere, and they grew up to be better people.

These personal anecdotes from yesteryear are quite entertaining but quite irrelevant. The policy question pertains to today's working children and tomorrow's.

It should be a summertime position only, or we are setting ourselves up for millions of disappointments..

Congress has given their stamp of approval for this most hypocritical atrocity for child slave labor in the fields. A child at those ages has no business making the decision to work or not to work in the fields. What happened for the policy of "No Child left Behind"???? Or this a policy for anyone , except for those who are poor???? Our Government and the Sec. of State have the nerve to spout about the people's rights to Brazil and China while at the same time they and the parents are abusing small children. Those are the same deep, abusive trenches as China whom we chastise. We the people talk about a child's right to be born and yet we turn around to allow the innocent children to be abused by Corporate elites, Catholics, Congress, etc. This is so immorally wrong. Regardless of a child who is here legally or not, we do not have the right to abuse small children, who can't even defend themselves. Yet, there was only one person ( A DEMOCRAT), who stood up in the House to object the passage of this Law. Shame on Congress, Corporate Elite, and the adults who approve the abuse of young children for profits in their own pockets!!! Young children are feeding the adults instead of adults feeding them.

DID ANY OF YOU READ THE ARTICLE?? apparently, only a few.......these kids arent in school.....and they are here legally....they have a green card to work here......you blind!!?? i drove past the san joachine valley and saw the hundreds of pickers bent over picking the crops.....so i guess the INS cant see them?? Once again, you people have missed the point of the whole issue......when i saw these people i never in my dreams thought little kids were in there picking anything for 10 hour days and not in school......of course if they want to after school like you spoiled americans keep saying you did.......i bought my own clothes etc etc....and i walked uphill to school and back, etc......yes they should be able to do that, but why do we think it is ok for big agri-business to exploit child labor for their bottom line? We profess to be a Christian nation but in my 60 years i have seen anything but....just alot of platitudes passed around but never any real Christian thought.......do you really think that Christ considers the poor and the meek as inferior to us rich Americans!! if you do then you did not read the Bible like you were supposed to in church that sunday.......this situation is nothing short of appaling, and I say shame on this country for allowing it to go on....and shame on any congress person who knows of this and allows an agri-business lobbyist to bull@!$%# their way around DC.......the punishment is coming for you people who are racist and biggoted!!

ROY WILSON:

RE: Your post #1.53

Hey ROY, obsess much over President Obama?

interesting... last i heard they (farmers) couldnt find American workers, now its they have child labor...lol. MSNBC plz make up my mind.

Back in the 30's my grandmother was a migrant worker, as well her family from Polish Germany. She was a child then, and worked as a migrant worker for a long time until she was in her early 20's. this was around the 30's era when child labor laws were not in effect, and for a few years after. When my aunt was born, my grandmother at the time a migrant worker as well her then husband, she worked up to the delivery date, and was back out picking a couple days later.

if you want to eat, you have to work. if you want a roof over your head, you have to work. if you need lights and heat, you have to work. those were the same morals some of us were grown and raised with, to work for what you have, or want. Not cry about not having it, when the person who did work for it did. Your body hurts after working? that might be why its called work (labor). These jobs you also get paid for what work you perform, not just for showing up, and picking a few things here and there to collect a check. There was no welfare then, and help for those able to work, but chose not to because they felt entitled didnt get it.

We as kids during the summer, (starting when i being the oldest was 8, and told not to come home until i had a full 5 gallon bucket of wild grapes, or wild berries. we would as well go to out and pick bushles on area farms that were "pik ure own". we did this until we were out of the house and had our own bills to pay.

when picking the wild berries and grapes, those were on a 40 acre plot, with a densly wooded area. poison ivy, and sumac and even stuff to this day i have no clue would cause cuts, abraisions, and rashes. you as well had to keep an eye out for possibly rabid wildlife, and the not so freindly ones. there were no paths, and if you wanted to fill a 5 gal bucket to get home and have a dinner, you had to wade into a good acre of berry bushes. you wear a shirt to protect your body you started to get soaked with sweat from the dence humidity (worse in foilage taller than you), and after a point just take off the shirt, and endure.

our reward for toils was black/red rasberry /grape jams home made, and topping for icecream and pies, as well the morals to obtain a good working ethic. sure it wasnt fun 90% of the time. we would have rather stayed indoors being cool, and watching the tube all day and night. but we wouldnt have learned anything of value.

To Confussed-1578043 (post #1.17):

Conagra Corp, ADM, Monsanto, etc. are hardly small family farm operations. But they are the Corporate elites, who abuse these children with 10 hours and more of work with very poor pay. Small family farms are a rarity nowadays and almost extinct. So what you and others are saying is that the poor kids are the only trouble makers and are the ones, who need to work without an education. Those privileges of course are reserved for the middle class and elite. How naive can you be?

Hey Roy, How long do you think this has been going on.. The boy in the article said 7 years. That would mean that Bush Jr was in charge. Ever think .. No guess not.. That this problem is older than just your attention span. Some of those workers have been in the fields since they were 6 and are now in their 50's or more. STFU.

Oh Jesus - now you're bringing in the Nazis. Comparing Nazi Germany to illegal immigrants? That's a stretch, even for you!

So tell us - what do you obsess over someone having a $50K SUV - are you envious?

Once again you demonstrate your ignorance, Vet. La Raza means "The Race", not Master Race. Here, in the U.S. it is used to denote people of Chicano and Mexican Mestizo descent. Being proud of one's heritage is a far cry from regarding oneself as part of a "master race".

Once again, you express your envy that your neighbors can get a loan and yet you can't. No surprise there. It's not a race issue.

Sounds like a immigration issue to me.

Whaaaaa Whaaaa Whaaa Who cares. So some kids are working on the farm and helping out their families. You lib cry babies can't have it both ways. You cry about the poor kids having to work but you use the excuse "that the prices of produce will go through the roof if we send illegals home". So which is it?

If these "immigrant" kids are being forced to do it then it is by their "immigrant" parents. Put the blame where it belongs.

Better yet, pass a law that makes it illegal for the kids of illegal to work in the fields, oh wait we already have those laws!!!!!! I'm all for passing laws that stop the illegal's kids from helping out their families. The less the illegals make, the more of a possibility that they will go back to wherever they came from.

JJ, don't go veg. that's hat the article was referring to, not cattle, hog farming, vegetable growers. By going vegetarian your buying into the rational of child labor.

There is a web site called Eat Wild that will list the farmers in your area that "raise their livestock on pasture from birth to market and who actively promote the welfare of their animals and the health of the land" http://www.eatwild.com/

"ridiculously low wages and dangerous working conditions" It seems as if you are regurgitating the same old stuff you hear in the news but haven't researched yourself directly. Sometime you should look over the OSHA code for agriculture and see what you learn there, and then maybe peruse over the cases at the Dept. of Justice Office of Special Counsel to see how often growers are sued for asking about a farm worker's legal status. You might be surprised what you learn there. And then look over the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification requirements in order for a grocery store to purchase the crop you grow. The public needs to learn a little bit of reality rather than buy into the sensationalism that is perpetuated from articles like this.

A law should be passed that NO ONE who is illegal will be prosecuted or deported if they report abuses of child labor laws or ANY labor laws or wage and hour laws or workplace safety laws.

Illegals are attractive, not only to farmers but to many industries, because they can't complain about wages or working conditions. They can be made to work any number of hours without overtime. They can't complain about safety conditions because the people they work for can simply turn them in to ICE.

I am TOTALLY against the invading aliens. But they should be treated humanely until we can deport them. They should not be screwed over.

If they could report being cheated and / or abused by employers -- then invading aliens would not be so attractive to unethical employers.

Piece work should be outlawed and all agricultural workers should be paid well over minimum wage.

Food might go up ... but so what ... don't we have a moral duty to see that people are not treated like slaves?

We all eat too much anyway.

Willie,

Everyone should be paid well over today's minimum wage. It won't affect the cost of food as much as the price of gas does anyway.

Disgusting.

Mitt would have all poor children working at barely above slave wages. Cheap labor is a right of the rich.

Disgusting ? that is the perfect description of Romney.

Illegals are attractive, not only to farmers but to many industries, because they can't complain about wages or working conditions. They can be made to work any number of hours without overtime. They can't complain about safety conditions because the people they work for can simply turn them in to ICE.

Here's a novel idea. How about they immigrate to this country legally and become citizens rather than come in illegally, get paid under the table then bitch about how horrible and unfair it is.

People love to say "oh, but Americans are too lazy to do that kind of work". I say, BS. Has anybody tried offering even minimum wage to put Americans to work in America picking crops? I, and I would be willing to bet, most Americans, would gladly pay a couple cents more for produce if it meant putting thousands of Americans back into the workforce.

It would be nothing but win/win all around. Remove the lure of US dollars without the responsibilities of being a legal citizen. Put thousands back to work, now with money in their pockets, paying taxes and spending their wages in the US instead of sending money "home" to bring in more illegals.

aviso a todos extranjeros ilegales potentiales/notice to all potential illegal aliens:

Si Usted entra a los e.e.u.u. ilegalmente, esos condiciones horribles son lo que puede pasar a Usted y su familia!

if you enter into the usa illegally, such horrible conditions are what can happen to you and your family!

Working conditions and animal care are the responsibility of the farm owner/managers. They alone are responsible for the substandard conditions. Most farmers (independent) that I know wouldn't allow poor conditions to exist. I grew up on an independent farm, and I helped in the fields as young as five years old, under my mother's supervision. I had my own four pound bucket, and got paid as much for my "buckets" as the bigger kids. It was a family joke. My point is, we were all treated well, were healthy and happy. It was the best kind of life, I have no regrets at all. I still managed to get an education. AND, I am extremely proud to be an AMERICAN.

JJ are your children helping in your garden by pulling weeds etc.?

In the summer of 1969 I was 14 and working (when school wasn't session) in the peanut field harvesting product and in 1970 worked in the co-op peanut dryer all for the great hourly wage of .97cents. I was born here and the work didn't hurt me so it will not hurt them. WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE

Was your computer made by children working in factories in China?

I hope you folks realize that American children used to pick crops too. But no one cried for them. LA RAZA should wait until the greatest generation is all dead before they start with their lies.

My, you didn't do your homework did you, Vet? Try studying a little history. Mexican laborers were lured into this country as far back as WW I (as well as WW II) to make up for the shortage of labor that went off to war. Farmers soon discovered what a sweet deal they had and even after the war, they took advantage of cheap unskilled labor. Conditions were horrid - much more severe than what your "American children" were exposed. It was the plight of the laborers that prompted Chavez.

For the most part, your "greatest generation" was not exposed to the working conditions endured my migrant farm workers. In the future, try doing a little research before spouting your bigoted remarks.

In fairness to the whole situation you got to look at the fact that Mexicans and Mexican kids work that much and that early on in Mexico. The wages are still better here. Sent to Mexico, it's a lot of money.

So do we judge by American standard or Mexican standard?

Shandril, is yours? The car you drive is all of it U.S. Made? The video games and Phones your kids live on all day?

roc1960:

Oh, hell no! I wouldn't buy American products except as a last resort.

vet if you were in the United States military I fear for the security of this nation, knowing they let someone as stupid as you in. To all the people talking about the summer job they had as a kid, this is not the same, these are kids that are American citizens or in the country legally working a career they are born into. These people are not aware of the American way and that being doing as little as possible for as much as possible. junior no one cares about your peanut adventure it is not even close to what these people do. They move from one part of the nation to the next depending on the growing season all year long. without these people produce will grow rotten on the vine, like some of the southern states are experiencing right now because of new immigration laws that even keep legal workers from going there because of fear of harassment by law enforcement. Soon we will all be paying $8 for a single potato, and all produce prices will go through the roof.

Aren't the parents taking them to work? I would ask the farmer/ employer if he was told by the parent(s) that he had to employ the kids as well or hasta la vista. As a child, I didn't have to work the fields but I grew up in a community of poor whites whose children missed school in spring and fall to work cotten and toiled all summer in southern sun. We had no migrant workers in this area until the late 60's when public housing, welfare, etc. drew these white families into urban areas.

Vet, first, let's get the remedial English lesson out of the way:

Gumps, you are mearly (sic) using LA RAZA propaganda as facts.

Try using the spell check feature - click on the "ABC" icon.

So, you're using "Remember the Alamo!" to justify your hatred of Mexicans? Does that make it more palatable as you eat your veggie Subway sandwich?

People love to say "oh, but Americans are too lazy to do that kind of work". I say, BS

Oh yeah? Really?!? I'm looking out my window right now - it's 9:19 in the morning - and I see 2 of my unemployed neighbors in 2 different apartments sitting on their front porches drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. I don't think what these kids are doing is wrong, necessity dictates how you live your life. Kids working to put food on the table is FAR more acceptable in my book than lazy f%#ks spending the aid money we give them on BS. I've never even been to a strip club. Lucky, lazy bi#$^es.

If not for the cartels, I'd consider moving to Mexico, where honorable people live.

yeah after the Brits/Americans ran the Mexicans and Indians from their land by the border, that wasn't enough? Texas, AZ CA, So much land that the white man killed people over is sicking. This is their mother land that was stolen from them, they have more of a right to be here than VET. Where do your grand-parents come from? Look at all the cities and streets with spanish names in all the southern states. Who do you think named those places. Anglo-saxons? hELL NO. Natives that were robbed of their land and lanuages.

"arguesforsport

Illegals are attractive, not only to farmers but to many industries, because they can't complain about wages or working conditions. They can be made to work any number of hours without overtime. They can't complain about safety conditions because the people they work for can simply turn them in to ICE.

Here's a novel idea. How about they immigrate to this country legally and become citizens rather than come in illegally, get paid under the table then bitch about how horrible and unfair it is.

People love to say "oh, but Americans are too lazy to do that kind of work". I say, BS. Has anybody tried offering even minimum wage to put Americans to work in America picking crops? I, and I would be willing to bet, most Americans, would gladly pay a couple cents more for produce if it meant putting thousands of Americans back into the workforce."

They tried it in Mississippi. The legals that showed up said the work was too hard and they wanted more pay for less work. Now they want the illegals back.

Once again, Vet displays his staggering ignorance - making absurd statements without doing any research first. So, Mexico contributed virtually nothing of importance? Here's just a few:

Chocolate

Vanilla

Avocado

Tequila

Oh, and all the publicity surrounding this year (2012) should have given you a clue - the Mayans' calendar; both the Mayans and Aztecs were great mathematicians.

The element Vanadium was discovered by Don Andres Manuel Del Rio.

Must I go into the influence of Span/Mexico to California? There's too much to write in this post just on that topic.

Vet, you're probably the person who inspired the saying: "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!" So fitting in your case.

hey vet only the wealthiest man in the world is from Mexico. Again I say you are a poor excuse for an American please leave this country.

Vet, why don't you try thinking yourself for a change? Why don't you try doing a little research and find out how how he got to be so wealthy. Hint: It had nothing to do with drugs. My, you bought bigotry in the industrial sized drum!

So, who cares if I used Wikipedia? It was a simple exercise to prove you wrong.

parents need to be prosecuted what about the growers, not their fault. Do you really think INS really monitors every field for violations. I'm sure child labor goes on in Texas too, cotton? These are migrant workers, they follow the crops. There is a guest worker program big here in Florida and California, perfectly legal workers doing what Americans won't. So give the people trying survive a break.

In Texas, you can declare that you are HOME SCHOOLING your children and there are no rules to follow. Home schoolers in Texas aren't regulated in any form. It's easy to get around the laws in Texas.

Big Ag screamed about the family farms that would be hurt -- this suggests that American farmers are legally putting their own young kids to work in this very hazardous occupation. Here in Texas, as in all states, it is legal to homeschool your kids. Homeschool them by putting them to work on the farm, I guess. Why this is legal, when no other form of child labor is, is beyond understanding.

Only mining is more hazardous than agriculture. Every year, more than 100 people under 20 die in agricultural accidents. Here's a story of two 14-year-old girls working in a Monsanto detasseling plant. They're dead now. Of electrocution.

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/2-die-in-electrocution-accident-in-Ill-cornfield-126151238.html

What really ticks me off is: it seems as though the illegal aliens that come to the United States, pick and choose what laws they follow and what laws they just snub the noses at, and none of our authorities seem to care.

Those children should be in (a mexican) school, so they won't have to do this for the rest of their lives.

So their children have it hard due to economic conditions and the solution is to prosecute the parents as criminals?

Humanity is so lacking in some it has become a mental illness.

Wow. I'd rather be a young child working in a hot field all day than to live in a "home" with someone that detached and emotionally ill.

Its the way of life for some family's in Mexico. They hang together aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, mom, dad.

Its their way of life has been for years.

Deacon-960127

You have to pay to go to school in Mexico. It ain't free.

it is not big ag crying about family farms, they would love nothing more than to kill the family farm and they have nearly succeeded. The way the law was written it would have been a crime for a kid to go hay the family milk cow before school, or pick eggs or even so much as touch an unfinished ag product. When this was pointed out all they said is essentially- yes that would be true but we wont go after family farms, we will not enforce in those circumstances. Sorta like how they said they wouldn't be using drones to spy on Americans but the law was written to allow it and now, gee we're being spied on by drones.

Maybe not evil. Definitely cheap.

Dont forget, "To ask directions to the golf course"

except if you knew anything about price supports you would know Rick was right. You do not get price support for growing cabbage or lettuce. It is only provided for certain cash crops like cotton, corn, rice, wheat, soy, alfalfa. Also given how the support is structured the more you mono crop one of these items the more you make. To some extent it helps livestock farmers but in a very indirect way. Cattle are fed corn, soy silage and alfalfa all tax supported. The cattle rancher/farmer still has to buy the items on the open market. It works ok together if you grow both ie you are huge farm or buy in huge amounts likea feedlot. For the small farmer those tax benefits are meaningless. I don't know about you- maybe you eat nothing but prepared trash food but I do not exist on corn, wheat and beef alone.

Wow, HonorTheVet -- did you get that stereotype description from your local KKK chapter? Hate much?

My hear bleeds for the poor poor farmers.

I've lived in two gated retirement communities, and in both the biggest nicest homes belonged to preachers and farmers -- in that order.

HonorTheVet is a racist troll. Don't feed the trolls.

Honor The Vet said:

I would like to see MSNBC do one,.......just one story about the people in Africa who search all day for water fit to drink, while fat, sloppy, lazy Mexicans munch like pigs on the food bought with American food stamps and the pregnant momma, who is ready to shoot out another bandit baby while she is pushing a cart full of food and Mexican beer through the aisles of an air condition store built to accomodate her ethnic heritage with sickeningly sweet candies and carbon monoxide producing beans.

Gumps, I know what you said about not feeding the trolls but I can't resist this time. Sorry!

For stories about famine in Africa:

http:// www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24731042/ns/ world_news-africa/t/ once-again-children-are-starving-ethiopia/

http: //www.msnbc.msn.com /id/43559368/ns/world_news-africa /t/un-famine-breaks-out-drought-hits-million-horn-africa/

http ://www.msnbc.msn.com /id/45226540/ns/world_news-africa/t/ somalia-famine-baby-back-brink-death/ (the photo of this baby is particularly heartbreaking)

I don't think I need to go on.

Now, in reference to the 'fat sloppy lazy mexicans'--I guess you missed the story this morning where an entire town of Mexicans --Cheran, Mexico--led by a 38 year old grandmother revolted against their governing body, threw out the corrupt politicians and the corrupt police, seized the weapons from the police armory, declared their own law, set up their own governing body and are shooting the illegal loggers and cartel members who venture close to their town? Their crime rate has gone to zero.

http:// www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48478168/ns/ world_news-the_new_york_times/

Now, as to your next comment:

Honor The Vet said:

I like when they get paid to grow NOTHING by the government.

Growing crops on the same land year after year after year strips resources from the ground and renders it unfit to grow things on ever. Hence the dustbowl and the Great Depression. The government pays the farmer to either let the land lie fallow or to rotate crops so the land has a chance to replenish certain hutrients on a rotated basis. By doing this they can grow a greater variety and the land has a chance to refresh itself.

Amanda...nice try...no cigar! If left to nature of course the same crops would grow on the land each year. In farming rotations are a normal part of good management and used in more than 99% of farming practices. You might take a road trip, get acquainted with agricultural practices.

A lot of the Set Aside Land Bank programs started back during the Carter Administration after we Quit selling corn and grain to the Russians and the Price for Grains Bottomed out. It was an attempt to put land out of use for long periods to reduce production to stabilize the market. Most of the land is now back in production.

Vet there is no way you were in combat, you are just to stupid to have survived. You are a poor excuse of an American please leave this country.

jack if you had a brain in your empty head you know what you said was not true. where in nature have you ever seen 50 acres ( or if talking reality 1500 ) of 1 plant alone? no where. 1 acre might have 50 different species of plants growing on it. Yes farmers rotate crops- they rotate from corn to soy over and over again, maybe once in 5 years theyll get a hair and grow wheat , alfalfa or sunflowers (weirdly enough) do they till the crop matter under so it can compost and enrich the soil? no, even corn stalks have a commercial value. It can be baled and feed to cattle, leftover soy plants can be turned into silage to feed livestock. wheat stalks are turned into straw and used as fodder or bedding. so even if they rotate crops what good is it doing if everything above the dirt is harvested and everything below dug up again.

To be clear I am not attacking farmers, they do what they must by our demands. We demand cheap - ultra cheap food and in huge quantities. We stopped caring about quality long ago. Our government stopped caring about small farmers long ago as well.

"Get big, or get out"

Earl Lauer Butz, Secretary of Agriculture

WOW vet you should have starred in the movie Idiocracy you wouldn't even have to acted your a natural.

Perhaps you should have heeded that advice yourself, but it's too late. We all know you're a fool.

ski, here's a novel thought, go pick some lettuce, beans, etc., and see how long you last, and oh keep it wrapped or zipped won't have a population issue will we. Stupid comment.

Explain to me how that is stupid? It's logic. Do not have children you can't support.

Your run on, poorly punctuated sentence was really not a good explanation. Sorry.

Now that they have to be provided with employer paid insurance, with coverage for contraception, perhaps they will have fewer kids.

Olivia forever said:

People should not come into our country with a bunch of kids they are unable to raise properly, and they should enter our country legally as well; not just hop the wall like the drug traffickers do.

And what about the children who are bought as slaves overseas and trafficked in by legal USC's, forced into child sexual slavery then thrown out when they get too old to make child porn with or become pregnant? Unable to qualify for legal services, they have the child an abandoin it to welfare services or have the child and become migrant workers--or end up in deportation camps committing suicide when the child is taken from them and given back to the pedophile biological father?

Yes, they 'should' enter legally. But it was someone else's choice to bring them here illegally and force them into sexual slavery. If the slave reports it, the slave is deported --if there is no police report documenting the abuse, the USC who bought them and enslaved them rarely ever gets prosecuted, leaving them free to simply buy another child and repeat the process. It's why human trafcking is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises--the slave is victimized and deported and rarely are there penalties for the USC who enslaved them.

Olivia, as I've said around here before, legal immigration is a scam. With so many poor people waiting in line for so long to legally immigrate, how come it's so easy for actors, athletes, celebrities, the rich, and people who come from countries we officially hate (e.g. Cuba) to become citizens?

Jano, migrant guest workers, there are only some many of these folks that do the backbreaking labor, they follow the crops an family farms are one thing but commercial growers are another. Fl. Orange Grove owners are hiring, don't see too many Americans apply for the jobs.

Washington State has hundreds of kids working, both older and younger than the legal age of 12. For these farmworker kids, the experience is very different than working on your grandpa's farm. Have you ever been forced to work in a field freshly sprayed with pesticides and get threatened if you refused? Have you ever had your wages withheld and asked for sexual favors to get your paycheck? Have you ever been asked to do dangerous work with no safety training or equipment? These kids face these kind of situations on a regular basis. What's worse -- farm work has kept them from getting an education. I encourage you to read up on this website and learn how some kids have a very different experience than you:

There's a place for children to learn a work ethic, but at a limited amount of hours doing safe age-appropriate work. Not like this...

Growing up with loving parents as a child, I can remember standing on a block at a tobacco barn and working all day long. Also my dad grew acres and acres of peanuts and I would pull weeds out of the peanuts all day. One day we had a neighbor who was in a fatal accident and our family went to his farm and gathered the tobacco crop for the family that day. Had we not done this his crop would have burned up in the field. I will never forget the good feeling we all had after the job was finishied knowing we were helping out in a time of trouble. Yes it was hard work but it was good for me and has made me the responsible person I am today. If more children had parents like mine we wouldn't have the crowded jails and prisons as they are today. I have 3 other siblings and they too are very responsible and caring. We were never abused, just trained well and always enjoyed the hard work. Thank God for my raising.

@skyparrot:

Maybe if the orange farmers would pay people a living wage, there would be.

Jano: Greetings from the Evergreen State. Long may it be such. This past winter, apple growers were desperate to get people to pick their fruit fast because of the weather (ice, etc.). They offered up to $350 per day for an 8 hour day. Those wages aren't "slim pickens", very few other than traditional migrant workers (largely Mexican) came to their aid--despite the poor economic situation in this country, and the number of jobless overall. Those wages were to designed to draw even the most "persnickety", but the "precious", including many anglo unemployed who could have used the money, couldn't be bothered, even though the entire World's apple crop was at stake.

In WA, aggie education is a basic need. We are #2, behind CA, in feeding the World. I'll bet very few readers on this blog have any idea of what it takes to grow the food for 7.031 billion (and growing)people.

Shandril

@skyparrot:

Maybe if the orange farmers would pay people a living wage, there would be.

And maybe if the American consumer would pay more for food... I run a small farm and you'd be amazed at the number of people who buy at farmers market, food co-op, and retail stand that want the food CHEAPER. I compare my prices weekly w/ crop reports, grocery stores, and auction houses. People just don't get that food is heavily subsidized in the corporate world.

If farmers got a living wage, maybe they could afford to pay someone else the same as well. As for children working the farm, so what. My only stipulation is insurance, and limit the # of hours worked per day during school year (which for documented workers is required).

Really Baldenario, reading must be an issue for you. See here from the article:

Only one representative, Lynn Woolsey, a Democrat from Sonoma and Marin counties in California, spoke out against the legislation. Similar legislation has been proposed and awaits action in the Senate.

Typical comment from your ilk....

..."the value of money" LOL

What is the value of money, pray tell? The kid works all day for $5 to earn a profit of $500 for the farmer?

Better then teaching your kid to sit on their ass waiting for the next "Entitlement" check they "Deserve"

Shandril: There is no value of or in money. The only currency we have in Life is the way we treat each other.

Shandril, if I am correct you are referring to the huge profit the farmer is making opposed to the meager wages paid for child labor. I'd be inclined to agree with you considering the children likely are not "family," members working on the "family," farm.

Roc1960, respectully your comments seem to be a broad condemnation of kids today which is wrong. Your life experience is tied to an era and generation much different than today. Kids today have the same amount of power you had as a kid over all those elements that shape future adults. I might add if you really feel kids today are that pathetic then look no further than your generation. Why? They are the prior parents whose values and ideals helped shape todays generation. As for today's kids I have raised three children with college degrees who possess a strong work ethic, are self reliant, responsible, and who held a part time job starting at sixteen. I stress part-time because we emphasized education as the priority. Our kids were not the exception but the norm where we live. They cut the grass, cleaned house, did laundry including hanging wet laundry outside, ironed, made and changed bedding using military corner sheet tuck, shoveled snow, while going to school and working. Our kids learned from these chores skills necessary for when they became adults. They are not like my husband and myself as we are of a different generation nor should they be. We did influence them by our example, values, and our commitment to help them be prepared for a different future from ours. I'm sure your parents in part did for you what you did for your kids with their future in mind. If you feel so strongly today's kids are missing core values then be the example for them by first not criticizing them with condemnation.

@Shandril

you must mean gross profits!

I was referring to post #10.1. But I will say that as a landscaper I am finding it harder and harder to get teenagers who will WORK during the summer. Ones that show up before ten in the morning, leave the phone in the car, work unsupervised to an extent, put in a 8 hour day when needed, and dont expect $12.00 an hour to start. I had one kid quit before he even started on his first day after I asked him to put his phone away, he was playing "Angry Birds" and told me that he wanted to finish the game first but refused to put phone in the truck. I have had to down size and turn down work for lack of help. I refuse to hire illegals.

To roc1960:

Not sure what part of the country you are in, but my son has done landscaping for several years when on summer break from school.

The owner overhires kids, but doesn't schedule them to work. He has a very large crew that only gets to work if they phone him the night before and tell him they are available. The first ones to phone are told where the next days job site is. The ones that don't phone don't work.

There were many a day my son phoned him the night before only to be told that he was too late, the work crew had already been picked. It got so that my son learned to get on the next days work crew while working at the current days work crew. The "regular" crew always had the work.

My son always was picked for landscaping installs (which paid better) over grass cutting.

Try modeling your business after that approach. Overhire the kids and put the burden on them to contact you for work. The ones that want the work will contact you, the lazy ones won't bother.

All you really need to do is establish a pool of day laborors to choose from, not permanent employees.

Better than you running your tail end all over the place making sure they want to work.

I run ads in the paper looking for help. Some hang up when they find out that they will mow grass and rake etc. Some hang up when they are told you are not paying $12.00 to $15.00 dollars an hour starting. I have crew leader calling me at 8 am asking were is my workers, call their residence and they are in bed. I had one parent tell me that 8 am is too early for her teenage son to start. I do installs and maintenance pay the same for both and divide it up equally. I give pay increase based on work ethic, willingness to learn, responsibility etc. Its a pain, time consuming and costly to weed out the worthless ones. I give allowance for things like football practice, 4-H projects etc. and will work around such things. Eventually you find ones that want to work. Its been a Hot summer here in the Midwest, I got two that will call me the night before and ask "can we start at 5am so we can get our hours in before it gets so hot out"? Their concern is getting the job done and wanting to work.

My son's landscaping company advertises for summer work in landscaping at the local high schools and universities by placing an ad on the bulletin boards. Even the high schools have no trouble letting him post summer jobs on the school bulletin board.

I think the advantage he has is that he has a big enough pool of potential labor that he can let the kids weed themselves out, so he can concentrate on lining up jobs. That is how he eventually finds out who will, or will not, work, though it takes a few weeks at the begining of the season. Obviously, the ones that worked last season are the first ones that get work this season.

If one of the kids is supposed to be on a job, and doesn't show, he may not get assigned to work for a couple of weeks. Later in the season he very seldom hears from his crew leaders that the kids aren't showing. Those kind of kids are long gone.

He is also good with working around schedules, and is known to show up on job sites with cold water, lemonade, or to take a crew out to lunch. Even has the girls out running the mowers and doing the weedwacking. He says the girls are alot more reliable and responsible than the boys at that age.

Kids that are willing to work in the summer are out there, just don't get bogged down babysitting the ones that can't get with the program. They will probably never "get it", even as adults.

john I also worked on a family farm in the summers, didn't get paid but I got fed and cared for and loved. However, we are not speaking of family farms are we, commercial growers. My farm days we helped some neighbors on their farms because of illness, death, hard times. That is what is wonderful about neighborhood farming communities. I would loe to get my 16 year old out there picking berries, no go here, hard to find berry etc., growers in Orlando.

I actually did this with a large strawberry grower in Eastern Washington, I would move in with my grandparents for the summers to go pick strawberries

Consider the Amish...

They have robots that do surgery in hospitals.

Machines CAN do extremely delicate work.

Much better than humans can.

But illegal workers are cheaper than machines.

Really.

A machine capable of picking strawberries or cherries would be extremely expensive.

Plus the fuel to run it.

Plus the maintenance to keep it running.

So they don't bother making such machines because farm corporations can hire invading aliens for next to nothing, comparatively. And there is no maintenance. When a worker breaks, fire him.

testing...

jano, right small family farms in the San Fernando Valley, Orange growers here in Florida, yup all over the place. We have a John Deere mower for our one acre grass and weed filled homestead. John Deere equipment best one can buy on a moderate small scale, and on a large scale operation couldn't do better. However, you don't trade the model in every year. Expensive.

No there is nothing wrong with hard work. The problem is that only hard work leaves these children with no future. Take any one of them from the field and see what other skills they have. Little to none, how would you fix this. How many of them are unable to read at all. How about write. This may be simple to you, but the problems it causes are much worse than you think. The original law was put into place so that farms barely functioning due to what ever reason could put their children to work. That is not what is happening here. Migrant workers, black, white, or hispanic, have to move from farm to farm or even state to state to make enough money to afford to make those moves. Nothing else. I see that as a problem.

my question is yeah you did a bit work but was it for 10+ hrs a day? some of these kids are doing it 5 days a week sometimes 7. and as for the world not oweing anybody anything your right it dosent its we owe our children. this article is about child labour laws it not only concerns the U.S but the world as a whole

oh and as for being put to work on an assembly line at age 9 WAS YOUR FATHER RIGHT IN THE HEAD

If the kids now of days weren't being so pampered and coddled from day one maybe they would quit having such feelings of entitlement and superiority and would stay in school and become productive members of society and not leach off of those of us that willing to work for a living

WTF? "Hey,it's okay to exploit kids! My father did it and I survived."

I thought it was part of the American Dream to work hard so your kids can have a better life than you.

So why are you grayhairs complaining that kids these days don't have the same work experiences as you did?

Wasn't that the whole point?

McGee-9to5

I thought it was part of the American Dream to work hard so your kids can have a better life than you.

So why are you grayhairs complaining that kids these days don't have the same work experiences as you did?

Wasn't that the whole point? Post #15.5

First, I resent your condescending characterization of certain posters as "you grayhairs."

Second, we older posters did give our kids a better life than we had. And boy-o, what a big mistake that was! They grew into hateful, selfish, self-centered, vacuous adults. You're probably one of those kids - or rather, of that generation.

Now they/you are raising their/your own kids to be twice, thrice, quadruplely as shallow - or worse. It is these kids - our grand-kids ... maybe your kids? - that we're talking about when we make reference to "kids these days."

1. When I turned 8 (in 1976), I got my first paper route. Had it for years.
2. That same year, I lined up a dozen lawns to mow on a weekly basis. Continued to do so until my late teens.
3. That same year (in the winter), I scooped the drives and sidewalks of those same people. Continued to do so until my late teens.
4. That same year, I started "walking beans" (I've walked thousands of acres) in the summer. Continued throughout my teens.
5. That same year, I started detasseling corn, and continued to do so until the early 80's, when male sterile corn dominated once again (at least in the part of Iowa I'm from)
6. When I turned 10, I started driving a tractor on the farm, and pulling stumps and old fence posts to clear land. Did it for years.
7. When I turned 14, I got a job as the janitor at Woolworths, started roofing houses, and continued to work on the farm.

Oddly enough, I'm still alive.

When my son has a friend, and his friend asks me to give him a lift home because it's sprinkling outside, even though he lives two blocks away, you'll have to forgive me when I laugh.....and go back to reading the paper.

I have no use for this new generation of wimps we're creating.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with hard work. NOTHING.

Twoparts, you did all that because you wanted to, didn't you. Did you have to do it because it was all you could do to survive. I doubt it. Your situation versus the children in this story are quite different. Lets test this. Did you go to school, probably. Do these children, probably not, parents are "home schooling" them. I would like to see their scores in any of the normal curriculum. While I understand needing to work, I cannot accept that these children are not allowed to look past the fields to a possible better life.

Because I wanted to?

How many 10 year old's do you know that would rather spend 12 hour days pulling up tree stumps with a tractor instead of hanging out with friends? I certainly don't know any.

I worked because I had to.

I had no father, and lived in a tiny, rural community with a mother that was only healthy enough to work occasionally. I worked to eat.

All of that is irrelevant, though.

My comment is directed at those in the chain that think (for some asinine reason) that hard work is not good for kids.

To that, I say BULL.

To :Honor the Vet,Roc1960,spider-737231,JimSpence,RoyWilson-336103 and dslodge I have been overseas for this country twice. Your filthy trash can get the hell out of MY country. None of you add anything to MY country. The only way I would want to see any of you garbage would be through my scope.

My apologies for the perceived insult Brydae.

If the kids now of days weren't being so pampered and coddled from day one maybe they would quit having such feelings of entitlement and superiority and would stay in school and become productive members of society and leach off of those of us that willing to work for a living

How can they stay in school if they are out picking corn all day?

Yes I am against illegal immigration and want every single one of them deported.

BUT, until that happens I believe they should be treated fairly and not used as disposable slaves.

Corporate farms abuse the illegal workers continuously.

And, that is a flat out lie that apples and oranges would be 15 dollars a pound.

The price would go up, yes. But not to that extreme. Competition would do it's thing to keep the price down.

Paying fair wages would cut into PROFITS though, there is no doubt about that.

So what?

These kids should not be allowed to do this type of work at such a young age. I also believe Illegal immigrants should be deported. The two are not mutually exclusive. And, yes, I am willing to pay more for my food if that's what it takes.

Also, please don't compare a child working for a corporate farming enterprise with a child doing their chores on a family owned farm. They are not the same.

E-Verify?

Yeah, the people who live in air conditioned homes, sit in overstuffed chairs, and play electronic games have no work ethic; that stuff just fell out of the sky into their Yuppie houses as a gift from God, right?

Just another jealous redneck spouting nonsense out of his ass...

Shandril,

I know your post was meant to be sarcastic... but it failed miserably! lol

Miserably!

Olivia,

If US consumers only ate what they needed to eat, half of the farms would disappear!

When the President said " you didn't do it by yourself " he was right.

Yes, you put in a lot of work.

But, people taught you. You weren't born knowing what you know now.

If you own a business, your employees played a part in your success.

You couldn't have done it without them.

No businessman could succeed without the society that is around him.

If you have a store you couldn't even get your merchandise if there were no roads and highways that other people built.

What he was saying was that ' no man is an island ' and we all benefit from our membership in our community / society.

There are so many things that help each of us as individuals that we take for granted and never give a thought to.

Got a restaurant? How long would it last if there was no one taking away the garbage and it just piled up behind your place?

Business owners get help from many many people even though they don't think about it. It goes on in the background. Without it our entire society would crumble.

Where are the libs shouting: "These kids are doing jobs our kids are unwilling to do!"

Look up what an indentured servant is before you post about it. There is no relation here whatsoever between guest worker and indentured servitude. As far as the continuation of life in poverty, it is the fault of the parents. The majority of these parents lack the proper education and skills to support a family in a modern environment yet they continue to have children. I know this is not PC, but I have worked in the fields and I have traveled extensively meeting many of these people. Education must be compulsory, child labor laws need to be modernized to limit the hours of work, and we need to make it culturally unacceptable for people to have multiple children without the means to support them. Yes, there are always the few that did well and fell on bad times after having children. But those are the exceptions to the rule. I doubt many of these children's parents have college degrees!

Stephen85; I doubt that any agribusiness that spends the money to have guest workers from another country does not assure the corporation the funds will be returned, by whatever means. I also doubt that the funds are returned quickly and therefore the worker would return to the same farms year after year. And because you worked in the fields you would be able to shed light on such agreements.

The idea of requirinng people on birth control or god forbid, sterilization, sounds a bit Ayn Rand, don't ya think?

People like you disgust me...I can't even begin, without throwing my computer, telling you why.

Perhaps you should stick to your ethics, get off the computer, stop wasting time, and get into those fields!

Indigo: Your comment is stunning. Education is not the problem. Accepting corruption is the problem, whether in politics or employment.

lol

Its pretty obvious you don't suffer from that "too much education" problem Indigo.......

Indigo--Rage,

While others don't agree, I see what you're saying: It is what it is.

Those who disparage your comment are in a bit of denial about how this all works in this country.

No one "chooses" to do this job really, whether adult or child for sure. Odd how some "say" they don't have a problem with this, because it IS our issue or may be sooner than not, as without THESE IMMIGRANTS doing this horrendously hard labor, WE would not have the fruits and vegetables that WE have each and every single day, which THEY struggle to purchase and barely make payments or feed those hungry (mentally and physically) wonderful family members. ALL of whom we are indebted to, as NO WHITE person OR NO PERSON "I" know (and I count every one who has commented and 99.9% of the USA population) would certainly NOT even remotely consider such work. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!... Being a SBO, and what I have seen over many years as that many "say" they want a job but don't do anything much to find or keep one, as they often feel such that they find nowadays is considered menial! So they sure would not do labor intensive, heat stroke related outdoor mega hour farm work for no pay etc etc etc. So don't BS me, because you are only BS'g yourself and living in some non existent space barely co-existing yet spouting off and for reasons unbeknownst to the rest who live in reality. Oh pleeeeeeeeeez..............

There is nothing wrong with this except that I would limit the legal amount of hours to do the work. Working and contributing to the family at a young age is extremely beneficial to the development of children. This self-entitled child mentality that children are being raised with today is truly hurting them in their later life. There needs to be a minimum wage on such labor though which will remove the benefits of illegal immigrant hires. In some Denmark working the farms is an awesome summer job for college students but the minimum wage laws ensures that they are compensated properly. We have tons of unemployed people that would work the fields if the wage was set properly. Instead it is artificially low because cheap labor is available via illegal immigration. I can't pay a fair wage to my employees and compete with illegal hires.

I am in just about 100% agreement with what you are saying, but we must have a living wage given to these jobs. Stop the illegal immigration so that the competitive market starts working again and the labor for these physically demanding jobs become a competitive commodity again. Plenty of people, including college students, will be happy to do this seasonal work for the appropriate pay. At $15/hour it will raise the cost of your apple 10 cents at the supermarket. If there is a minimum wage set for areas of labor, there level playing field will solve much of our unemployment problems, immigration problems, and hence financial problems. I know some will say this is social engineering, but the reality is it is social engineering whether the minimum wage is $7.25/hr or $15/hr. The difference is that at $15/hr we will have US citizens doing the work! If we set minimum wages at levels for living wages on all of the jobs that illegals dominate, US citizens/residents will take them. The very wealthy will get poorer and the middle-class will grow. ....................And obesity will decline! tongue and cheek last part!

I am white and I have done this work. i enjoyed it. Me and my friends joked a lot and had great talks through the day. As long as you hydrate and protect your skin, you get used to the weather. I would have done it more but the pay sucked. No 40-hour a week job should pay less than a modern living wage....period....

@ Indigo ...

There are very few people that possess the insight you do and even fewer honest enough with themselves or reality to understand the prophetic undertones of your comment.

I have a feeling you are either a process engineer, a seasoned H.R. guy / gal, or someone that has a fondness for history and sociology ... of course you may be the guy that bags my groceries that is simply smarter than the people he serves day in and day out!!

careype....yes the children were born here, but their parents are migrant workers.(so some illegals having children in our country so they have a reason to stay) The article also states the children go to school after working the fields in the evening.(also how many of these kids will get a free college education...mine don't) If the migrant worker cannot make enough to live on ,then might I suggest they take their families back to where they came from. The mother they interviewed should go and work in the fields instead of her children. The children truly are not to blame, this again is a choice the parents made. AND TO stephe85 what wonderful ideas!

@Panther Hunter: Actually, I'm the one with the American Accent who answers those desparate cries for help when one's computer stops working - though I do have a particular fondness for sociology, psychology, and deep-seated sense of patriotism that goes far above and beyond what many can even conceptualize - much akin to the vision our Founding Fathers laid out for us.

Glad to know there are some here who can look both back and forward at the same time.

Perhaps if the children were paid a living wage...

Or, if such jobs paid living wages...

But, making a case for purposeful undereducation, Indigo, Wow.

What percentage of all of the agricultural fields in this country have yu presonally sampled?

Jerk