Yet on our farm the other day, we had a seven-person work crew that averaged 20.7 years old, all with a smile and a spring in their step, efficiently vaccinating and processing hundreds of cows and calves. (Although I suspect the two 40-somethings were nudging the average age up and likely dragging the agility down.)

My husband and I have entered a golden era in farm parenthood. Our kids are well past the diaper stage, are young enough to be at home under our roof, yet at a prime age to be excellent (ahem, crucial) ranch help. The automatic home-grown cattle handling system we started building 15 years ago is paying off!

There was a time when we would tackle big ranch jobs, such as sorting and trailing pairs out, when our children were not around. Now I find myself carefully navigating a calendar of school and external commitments to ensure the children are on hand for tasks big and small.

Another weird phenomenon is that the number of handy, capable kids around our camp seems to be increasing. There now appears to be an entire network of young friends ready to lend a hand in the calf pen, the show ring or the pasture. I’ve had a pitchfork pulled out of my hands by an unrelated young whippersnapper many times, and I’m not sad about it.

Outside of my in-house social experiment, I regularly observe enthusiastic young people who fuel my optimism about the future of food and farming.

I hear it in our local 4-H members casually discussing the price of cattle and feed. I saw it when I judged an agricultural video contest for our school division and was impressed by every creative, thought-provoking entry. I experienced it in our school when I hosted a class tour at our ranch, and the students asked insightful questions about why and how we do certain practices. I observe it at youth cattle shows when articulate, passionate young cattle producers take command of a show ring or a microphone.

We can’t ever stop considering how to retain and maintain youth in agriculture, but we should also recognize and value the generation of committed kids that we are building. But I have questions…

How do we continue to incorporate kids in a meaningful way? How do we help kids develop valuable skills and exert their independence while balancing the fact that they are still children? How do we foster an appreciation for non-farm hobbies and adventures? How do we avoid burnout? How do we encourage youth from diverse backgrounds to participate in agriculture? Above all, how do we keep our kids safe?

It’s hard to know how the future will play out for the next generation, but I have a lot of optimism.

For now, I’ll continue to invest in that cattle-handling infrastructure we started building so many years ago: I’ll locate the missing spurs, procure more phone-charging cables, wash the manure off the “town” boots and clothes, fill the fridge full of food, and set another few places at the table.

I’ll hop in the passenger seat of the pickup truck while I watch our children intuitively forge a path and fill gaps around our ranch I didn’t know existed, better than I ever could myself.

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And a new study is highlighting that notion when it comes to mental in farm youth, revealing that children aren’t immune to stressors on the family farm

The study, from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, explores how economic stressors affect the mental health of farmers and their adolescent children.

“Mental health with youth in agriculture is often overlooked. We have, rightfully so, put emphasis on the owner-operator who makes the decisions on the farm and has to sit with those decisions. But we haven’t looked at the impacts on the farm family,” Josie Rudolphi, an assistant professor and extension specialist at the University of Illinois and one of the study’s co-authors, explains.

“When families go through trauma, it’s usually not just one person who experiences trauma. It’s experienced by the family. So, when we think about tough economic situations, it’s being felt by everyone in the family. With farming, there are a lot of stressors that aren’t typical of most work arrangements and lines between home and work are often blurred.”

In the first two years of the five-year study, data has indicated a higher prevalence of symptoms for depression and anxiety in farm parents and youth compared to the general population. The study found that about 60 per cent of both adults and adolescents met the criteria for at least mild depression, while 55 per cent of adults and 45 per cent of adolescents met the criteria for generalized anxiety disorder.

“Those statistics are much higher than what we see in the general population. Even during COVID, we typically saw, among the general population, 28-35 per cent of people meeting the criteria for at least mild depression,” says Rudolphi. “So, we are seeing upwards of double those figures, which is very concerning.”

While the study looks at U.S. farmers and adolescents, Rudolphi notes the findings are consistent with other studies around the world. The Survey of Farmer Mental Health in Canada, undertaken between February and May 2021 and led by Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton at the University of Guelph, found that stress, anxiety, and depression were higher among farmers than the national average. The research also found that suicide ideation was twice as high among Canadian farmers compared to the general population.

Risk-taking behaviours

Of particular note in the new study’s findings is the correlation between how farm parents’ mental health and well-being affect that of their adolescent children.

“If a parent meets the criteria for depression, it’s almost guaranteed that the adolescent will as well,” Rudolphi explains. “We have to, of course, acknowledge that some of this is genetic. But what it really underscores is that youth are experiencing what their parents are experiencing; they are absorbing and internalizing their experiences.”

The study has also found a “very strong association” between mental health and risk-taking among farm youth, indicating that those who participated in more risk-taking behaviours were more likely to meet the criteria for at least mild symptoms of depression. That finding echoes a similar conclusion in the research “Health and Well-Being Among Youth People from Canadian Farms: Associations with a Culture of Risk-Taking,” which found risk behaviours to be high among farm adolescents and associated with various negative indicators of health and well-being.

“When we compare what we found to what the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] has found in non-farm adolescents, we see a higher proportion of our sample participating in those risk-taking activities,” Rudolphi says.

One glimmer of promising news, she notes, is that today’s youth have a heightened awareness of and engagement in mental health conversations.

“There is still some stigma with mental health, in some populations especially, and I think rural and agricultural communities at one point were among the most stigmatizing. But we are starting to see that change,” she says. “Youth are really interested in talking about mental health. A lot of it has to do with generational changes. Millennials are more likely to talk about it than their parents, and Gen Z and beyond are growing up in environments with much more normalized conversations about mental health.”

Of course, capitalizing on that youth interest and engagement means providing adequate and accessible mental health resources and services. And, as the study’s findings underscore, there is a need for more mental health supports focusing on farm youth and farm families.

“Is it concerning that we see a high proportion of our sample meeting the criteria for depression? Yes. But what’s also concerning is the lack of adequate access to mental health care in rural communities,” Rudolphi says. “Because we know that these are treatable conditions; we have a spectrum of mental health and people are moving through it constantly. It’s very treatable and manageable, if you have the resources at your disposal.”

While there is no quick solution to address mental health and wellness among farm families, Rudolphi hopes the study brings more attention to the experiences of farm families, particularly youth. Though there are plenty of benefits to growing up on a farm, she notes, it’s also important to acknowledge and work to address the risks, which extend beyond physical well-being.

“If we’re going to encourage people to go into farming, if we’re going to encourage people to grow our food, then we need to make sure they’re taken care of from a physical and mental perspective,” she explains.

“These youth today are our next generation of farmers. If they aren’t safe and healthy, then we don’t have our future farmers and ranchers.”

Links to mental health resources, information and supports in your area are available online.

Kids FarmSafe Week is a new public awareness campaign hosted by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association with the aim of promoting the safety and wellness of children and youth on Canadian farms. For its inaugural year, the campaign took place May 13-19, presented by BASF Canada Agricultural Solutions.

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It was April 1994, and Kemery, who was four years old, was playing on a parked tractor-driven rototiller that was still running on her family’s grain farm near Major, Sask. Her parents were standing not too far away. When the machine shook itself into gear, Kemery suddenly fell backward into the blades.

The incident resulted in critical injuries across Kemery’s body, which required numerous surgeries and extensive rehabilitation, and left her with lasting physical challenges and emotional trauma.

“When you hear stories of farming accidents, people are absolutely devastated when it happens, but then a week later, they’ve moved on. For the people it has happened to, it is a life sentence,” Kemery says. “It’s not a one-day event that you just move on from. I will never move on from this, and my family will never move on from it. This is life-changing and lifelong.”

Kemery knows her situation is unique in that she can talk about her experience. “More often than not, people do not survive those sorts of accidents,” she explains. That’s a key reason Kemery became a vocal farm safety advocate, noting that speaking publicly about her accident became therapeutic and a way to help cope.

“People always think ‘It’s never going to happen to me.’ I’m sure my parents thought that as well,” she says.

Despite the accident, Kemery remains close to her family’s farm, where she and her husband raise their three kids. While she says the family farm is a great place to raise kids, she quickly points out that it can also be dangerous if precautions aren’t taken.

“I always ask people if they’re prepared to be responsible for their child or grandchild’s life. Sure, something may never happen, but it just as likely could. And then what?” says Kemery, who also works off the farm in emergency management, providing various industries with first aid and CPR training and emergency preparedness plans.

“Whenever I hear someone say ‘I did it that way and I survived,’ I remind them that’s survivor bias. You were lucky. But had you got into an accident, this would be an entirely different conversation.”

Part of taking precautions, Kemery says, is involving children and youth in conversations about farm safety and being honest with them about the potential dangers on the farm.

“I believe in talking about everything and not hiding my kids from knowing about things that will hurt them. It’s so important to not shy away from having those conversations about how they can get hurt if they do something. We need to normalize farm safety and be honest with kids,” she explains.

“We don’t give kids enough credit. They are intuitive, smart little beings. And they want to learn. Involving kids in farm safety gives them a sense of belonging and it gives them a role. Everyone has a role on the farm and their role is to stay safe, which is huge.”

That open and honest approach to farm safety extends to her own accident. Kemery says her kids know about her accident, and when they ask questions, she is truthful with them about what happened and why.

“I can’t hide it from them; I’m covered in scars. They ask what happened and I tell them I was run over by a tractor. When they ask why, I explain that I wasn’t where I should have been and I got really, really hurt,” Kemery says.

“Why shelter them from it? Giving them the truth isn’t going to traumatize them. What will traumatize them is having to cope with an injury as a result of not having open and honest conversations about safety.”

Many parents struggle with where to start with teaching their kids about farm safety, which can lead to overcomplicating or ignoring safety lessons. A valuable resource Kemery found for teaching her children about farm safety is the BASF Safety Scouts, designed to engage little ones in learning about farm safety.

“We want to do right in keeping our kids safe, but as parents, we don’t always know what to say or where to start. The Safety Scouts program takes care of that uncertainty,” Kemery explains, adding with a laugh that her three-year-old son thought the safety vest that comes with the kit was the “bees’ knees.”

“Excluding kids from being involved with the farm can be dangerous because they want to be involved and they are going to find a way, whether you’re involved or not. So instead of ignoring it, it’s important to guide that involvement to make sure it’s as safe as possible. The Safe Scouts kit helps achieve that and helps kids visualize their role on the farm.”

Kemery notes that parents can also benefit from the program, as it provides new perspectives on farm safety.

“There were hazards included that I had never really considered, so, as a parent, it made me stop and think. And that’s important because we’re never too old or experienced to learn something new,” Kemery says. “That’s how things evolve and change for the better.

As the saying goes, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day,’ and the same notion applies with instilling farm safety. When it comes to farm safety lessons, as Kemery points out, repetition and patience are crucial.

“Farm kids are still kids. And because they’re kids, they’ll probably forget some of it, so be patient and remember that repetition is the best way to create success for farm safety,” she explains. “Having patience for kids who are learning is key. Don’t make them afraid of failing or afraid to ask for help and instead end up in a dangerous situation. Because how is that better?”

Kemery is candid when she says the trauma from her accident will never go away, noting that there’s no end to the hardships and pain she has to navigate. “That’s my life and the reality of the situation; there will always be trauma.”

That’s also why she continues to advocate for farm safety and strives to teach others how a single choice can affect the rest of their lives and their children’s lives.

“I tell people to think about the fact that an oversight could decide the fate of your child’s well-being. One decision that was made, and it wasn’t malicious or anything, but that one decision changed my life,” she explains.

“I still believe that growing up on the farm is one of the most rewarding experiences that a person could offer their kids. And embracing safety helps make the most of that experience.”

Kids FarmSafe Week is a new public awareness campaign hosted by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association with the aim of promoting the safety and wellness of children and youth on Canadian farms. For its inaugural year, the campaign took place May 13-19, presented by BASF Canada Agricultural Solutions. More information can be found online.

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But while Canadian farms are becoming safer, hazards still exist, and it’s clear that there is still a long way to go with farm safety — particularly when it comes to children and youth.

The latest Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting (CAIR) data highlights some concerning statistics about child and youth deaths related to agriculture. CAIR is the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association’s national surveillance program, coordinated by the Injury Prevention Centre at the University of Alberta.

According to CAIR data, from 1990 to 2020, a staggering 435 children and youth lost their lives due to agriculture-related incidents, with children ages one to four having the highest number of deaths of those under age 19.

Farms and ranches are not just workplaces, but also areas where people live and play. As a result, while other industries see occupational injury victims almost exclusively in the 18- to 65-year-old range, children sadly account for a significant number of fatalities in agriculture.

What’s contributing to so many agriculture-related fatalities among children and youth? According to the CAIR data, the majority (65 per cent) of children and youth deaths were caused by machinery, and most of those incidents involved a tractor. Runovers accounted for 32 per cent of child and youth deaths, followed by rollovers (15 per cent) and drownings (11 per cent). However, the second-largest category for mechanisms of injury — “other” — underscores the various hazards on the farm that can cause injury.

Unsurprisingly, the leading cause of death differs when looking at the unique age groups. The CAIR report indicates runovers are the leading cause of fatal injury for children under the age of nine, followed by drownings. In contrast, rollovers are the leading cause of death for youths aged 10 to 19.

Most of these victims (67 per cent) were not working at the time of the tragic incident but were in the area of farm work. One in three (65 per cent) of victims was the child of the owner/operator of the farm, with visiting children/youths representing 10 per cent of victims, followed by hired workers at nine per cent.

It’s important to keep in mind that these statistics are more than just numbers. They’re a sobering reminder of the need to protect the well-being of kids on the farm.

What can you do to keep kids safe on the farm? While farm kids are known for growing up quickly, because of the environment they are brought up in, remember that they’re still kids. So, ensure any tasks you give kids on the farm are age-appropriate. While kids might be living and playing on the farm, it’s also a workplace with plenty of hazards. Take time to create a designated play area, put barriers where possible around areas kids shouldn’t access (such as bodies of water or heights), and always provide adequate supervision.

Remember to discuss safety regularly with your kids, making it a routine part of conversations, and lead by example by demonstrating safe practices in your own actions.

Together, we can create a safer, more sustainable, and vibrant future for agriculture, and make these troubling statistics a thing of the past.

A new campaign

Kids FarmSafe Week is a new public awareness campaign hosted by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association with the aim of promoting the safety and wellness of children and youth on Canadian farms.

For its inaugural year, the campaign takes place May 13-19, 2024 and is presented by BASF Canada Agricultural Solutions. More information can be found online.

— Article courtesy of the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, a national, non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and safety of farmers, their families and agricultural workers. CASA is funded in part by the Government of Canada under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal, provincial and territorial initiative. For more information, visit the CASA web site, find us on Facebook or LinkedIn, or follow us on X @planfarmsafety.

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“We believe in teaching them lessons so that they grow up with safety as a culture on the farm instead of learning it as adults,” Keddy explains.

Keddy and her husband, Philip, are second-generation farmers growing sweet potatoes and strawberry nursery plants with her in-laws at Lakeville, N.S. Being both a parent and involved with the farm, Keddy says she recognized early on the significance of making safety a regular part of conversations and way of thinking.

“Through the busyness of business, especially with farming, safety can be one of the things that falls by the wayside pretty easily if it’s not made a priority,” says Keddy, who is currently president of Farm Safety Nova Scotia.

“I wanted to ensure that didn’t happen because learning about safety as an adult requires more of a conscious effort when you haven’t grown up with it, versus it just being instilled from a young age.”

A unique aspect of agriculture is that farms and ranches are not just worksites but places where people also live. While other industries see victims of occupational injuries almost exclusively in the 18-65 age range, children account for a significant number of injuries in agriculture. According to the latest findings of the Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting, between 2011 and 2020, there were 58 fatal agriculture-related injuries among those aged 0-14.

“I’ve always made sure to have very black-and-white conversations with my kids about safety. If something could result in death, then we are very direct about it and very clear about the risks because there is so little room for error,” Keddy says. “A single moment of inattention could mean the worst possible outcome.”

When it comes to safety, everyone has a role to play. That’s why one of the main lessons that Keddy and her husband have taught their sons — now ages nine and 11 — is that farm safety is everyone’s responsibility. And that includes them.

“We have always taught our kids that they have as much responsibility to look out for other people on the farm as other people have to look out for them, and it is all of our jobs to look out for one another,” Keddy explains, adding that prioritizing safety also plays a big part in attracting and retaining employees.

Being a parent and having a farm are both no easy feats. So, it’s no surprise that when asked if there is a balancing act that comes with parenting and farm work, Keddy can’t help but laugh.

“The entire lifestyle is a balancing act,” she says.

Farm kids tend to grow up fast, says Keddy, and certain expectations are often put on them, whether intentional or not, because of what they grow up around and experience.

“But even still, it is our responsibility as parents to not put them in an environment that could be unsafe and to give them the tools and knowledge necessary to keep them safe,” she explains. “While you’re trying to work, while you’re trying to run a business, you’re also trying to teach the kids the skills needed to be safe every day on the farm. And that definitely does take some careful and conscious balancing.”

One of the outlets that Keddy has used to help balance different priorities has been the Maritime Ag Women’s Network. Keddy co-founded the Facebook group with her friend Amy VanderHeide nearly 10 years ago after they attended the Atlantic Farm Women’s Conference and wanted to stay connected with the women they met there.

“We realized we were all going back to our farms and it is isolating living on a farm, so when you find those connections, it’s really meaningful,” Keddy says. “There is a need for connection, for information, and advice — be it with business, kids, or safety.”

The need for such a group became clear as its membership grew steadily, reaching over 1,000 members.

As Keddy notes, it’s no secret agriculture is rooted in old traditions. And while much progress has been made, many of the traditional expectations of women’s role in agriculture still exist. The Facebook group, she says, has helped highlight the unique experiences of farm women.

“Safety is a prime example of something that falls to women as the traditional caregivers and they are the ones most often who are balancing the kids with the farm work. For me, I did have the interest and passion for safety, but that’s not the case for everyone and safety often becomes a woman’s responsibility regardless of their interest in it,” Keddy says. “It’s an immense amount of pressure, and when you’re working stressed is when accidents happen and things get missed.”

While individual experiences will differ depending on location and commodity, Keddy points out that women in agriculture share many similar barriers, challenges and stressors.

“The Facebook group has helped a lot of women to realize they are not alone and that there are other people in the same situation as them. And that can really make a world of a difference to someone,” she says.

There’s no question that raising kids on a farm can bring many stressors and unknowns. Despite the challenges, it’s a lifestyle Keddy says she would never change. But she notes that the lifestyle comes with a responsibility she and her husband share to instill safety in the next generation.

“The bottom line is that we want them to grow up knowing that safety really has to be your No. 1 priority,” Keddy says. “Because without it, you may not have a farm.”

— Article by Erin Kelly for CASA.

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On Christmas Day, Barb had a Christmas dinner for us and Gregory’s siblings. After we made it through Christmas with no new baby, we thought he or she would be a New Year’s baby — but New Year’s Day came and went and we still had no baby.

I had a checkup with the family doctor in North Battleford on Jan. 4. The doctor checked us both out and said all looked well. There was some discussion about induction, but I was not too keen on being induced for the sake of a date on the calendar. So, I made an appointment for the following week to keep track of the baby and to make sure that there was no need for induction.

My next checkup was on the 10th and all was still good with the baby, but the weather had turned very cold. Our next appointment with the doctor was set for Tuesday, the 16th. The doctor was getting more anxious about induction and said if we made it to the 16th, which would make me 12 days overdue, we would have to seriously consider induction. The 16th is John’s birthday, so we were wondering if our new baby was trying to be birthday buddies with Grandpa.

In the end Anna Rose Eppich decided to show up on her own date — eight days later than the due date. It was just about bedtime for the boys when I felt the first contraction. I had them get ready for bed, then instead of heading upstairs I told them to go put their boots and coats on. They were a little surprised but are always happy to go over to Grandma’s house. Joseph and James had a good idea about what was going on, but poor Ian was very confused. He was quite happy to go to Grandma’s but after a while he was done visiting and wanted to go home. He actually got his coat and boots on himself and would have taken himself home if he had been able to open the door. Finally, Grandma convinced him to stay for the night.

On Friday, Jan. 12, at 3:02 a.m., Anna Rose Eppich made her arrival. She weighed eight pounds and was 22 inches long. Her godfather recorded the temperature at -42.9 C on the day of her birth.

Due to the extremely cold temperatures, Gregory had to go home and feed and bed the animals Friday afternoon. They were very grateful to see him. When he came back to the hospital, he brought the battery booster with him. The next day our Explorer would not have started without it.

Saturday afternoon Gregory warmed up the Explorer and picked up some extra blankets, gloves, toques and hand warmers just in case we had trouble on the way home. We let his sister in North Battleford know when we left and John and Barb and the boys were waiting for us at home. With all our supplies and extra help if needed, we carefully took our new baby girl home. Her brothers were very excited to meet her!

The cold weather lasted for several days, then there was a big warm-up. On Saturday, Jan. 27, we celebrated Anna’s baptism, then had neighbours and friends join us for a wiener and marshmallow roast afterward. The temperature was very nice but just a couple of days after that, it actually got above freezing. The boys spent lots of time playing outside but were very wet when they finally would come in.

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The Woodchurch High School farm opened 13 years ago, becoming a haven that nurtures the mental health and confidence of its students.

Based in the town of Birkenhead, which faces Liverpool across the River Mersey, the school counts dairy farmers and veterinarians among its former students who say the school’s farm is the reason they found their calling in life.

Woodchurch itself ranks in the top 10 per cent of local areas in England for income deprivation. Last month local authorities announced that the nearby leisure centre would be demolished.

And with UK social mobility at its lowest ebb in over 50 years, restricting people from moving to a higher income level, the farm’s ability to expose its students to people and professions far removed from the school’s urban trappings is more important than ever.

“It is really important that (young people) have an opportunity to achieve, to thrive, to actually show skills,” head teacher Rebekah Phillips said, adding that it had also helped support social and emotional development.

Each year the students compete in the prestigious Royal Cheshire and Westmorland county shows, displaying skills gained by looking after their sheep, alpacas, goats, pigs and chickens. Many have won prizes and acclaim from farming experts.

“The farming and agricultural communities have opened their arms to us,” Linda Hackett, the farm manager, said.

Year 10 (Grade 9) pupil Ella-Rose Mitchinson, 14, was awarded Student of the Year 2023 by the School Farms Network – a collection of 140 schools, many from rural communities.

For her, the farm represents a safe space, away from the world of social media and the rigours of teenage life.

“It lets me breathe,” she said, adding that she dreams of becoming a veterinary nurse.

Year 8 (Grade 7) pupil Corey Gibson, 13, agreed.

“It provides a happy place where you can be yourself. Animals won’t judge.”

Cultivating the future

Former pupil Sophie Tedesco, 27, now works as a dairy farmer in Shropshire, having first tasted farm life at the school before she left it in 2013.

“It opened my eyes to the agricultural world,” she says. “It was just completely different to what we were used to and I just loved it,” she said.

Increasingly the school is recognized as a centre for conservation due to a stroke of luck when it was gifted North Ronaldsay sheep at the farm’s opening in 2010.

Originally from Orkney, the sheep are listed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as one of four “priority” breeds–the charity’s highest grade of concern.

“Our little school, over 13 years in our one-and-a-half acres has bred over 60 sheep, we’ve had lambs every year. Our sheep count towards the national census for the Rare Breeds Survival Trust,” farm manager Hackett said.

Headteacher Phillips says other schools have shown interest in the farm, but she laments the fact that it is never taken into consideration in the country’s academic review system, despite the broader community impact.

“We have never had one bit of vandalism, ever, in 13 years,” Phillips said.

“I think the worst incident we ever had was the uproar when a child fed a sheep a crisp (potato chip).”

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The launch shows the complexities involved in replacing Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI), a firm that contracts to clean slaughterhouses. The U.S. government in February said PSSI paid US$1.5 million in penalties for employing more than 100 underage teenagers at meat plants across eight states.

The new company, JBS Sanitation, will “immediately begin the transition” to cleaning 10 JBS USA facilities, which produce beef and pork, according to a statement issued this week. JBS Sanitation will also do in-house cleaning for Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. and create “hundreds of union jobs,” the statement said.

JBS USA is the North American unit of Brazil’s JBS SA, which also owns most of Pilgrim’s Pride.

The North American unit also includes JBS’ beef slaughter and processing operations in Canada. JBS USA’s statement Wednesday referred only to U.S. plants and didn’t say whether the new sanitation company’s operations would extend north of the border.

“We fully expect JBS Sanitation to be cost competitive with other service providers,” JBS USA spokesperson Nikki Richardson said on Thursday, without providing details.

The largest U.S. meatpacking union, the United Food and Commercial Workers International, said it is working with JBS USA on in-house sanitation.

PSSI has said it has a policy against employing minors.

JBS USA previously said it terminated contracts with PSSI at “numerous” facilities, including three plants where alleged child-labour violations occurred. Third-party companies that meet employment verification standards will continue to clean some JBS USA and Pilgrim’s Pride plants, according to the statement.

Meatpacking rival Cargill also said it was cutting all ties with PSSI but the process will take months.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sent a letter to the largest U.S. meat and chicken processing companies last month, urging them to examine their supply chains for evidence of child labour.

— Reporting for Reuters by Tom Polansek in Chicago. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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U.S. officials said the Labor Department had seen a nearly 70 per cent increase in child labour violations since 2018, including in hazardous occupations. In the last fiscal year, 835 companies were found to have violated child labour laws.

U.S. officials told reporters on a Monday conference call that the administration was probing the employment of children at companies including Hearthside Food Solutions and suppliers to Hyundai Motor Co. It has created an interagency task force on child labour, and plans to target industries where violations are most likely to occur for investigations.

The Democratic administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is also pushing for heavier penalties for companies that violate these laws, and more funding for enforcement and oversight, they said. U.S. federal law prohibits people under age 16 from working in most factory settings, and those under 18 are barred from the most dangerous jobs in industrial plants.

“This isn’t a 19th century problem, this isn’t a 20th century problem, this is happening today,” said one of the officials on the call. “We are seeing children across the country working in conditions that they should never ever be employed in the first place.”

The maximum civil monetary penalty is currently just US$15,138 per child, the administration noted in a press release, a figure that’s “not high enough to be a deterrent.”

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) opened an investigation into Hearthside Food Solutions, a U.S. food contractor that makes and packages products for well-known snack and cereal brands, for reportedly employing underage workers and violating child labour laws, officials confirmed on the call.

Reuters reported the DOL’s investigation into Hearthside earlier on Monday.

The company came under scrutiny following a New York Times investigation that said Hearthside’s factories employed underage workers making Chewy granola bars and bags of Lucky Charms and Cheetos, which the company would later ship around the country.

It was not clear whether the probe will lead to criminal charges, fines or other penalties. Hearthside said in a statement the company would “work collaboratively with the Department of Labor in their investigation and do our part to continue to abide by all local, state and federal employment laws,” and that they were “appalled” by the report alleging child labour at their company.

The Hearthside investigation is the latest in a rise in similar probes. Reuters last year published a series of stories on child labour including revelations about the use of child labour among suppliers to Hyundai, including a direct subsidiary of the Korean auto giant, in the U.S. state of Alabama.

The first story in the Reuters series, published in February last year, uncovered young teens working in dangerous chicken processing plants in Alabama.

Earlier this month, a major food safety sanitation company paid US$1.5 million in penalties for employing more than 100 teenagers in dangerous jobs at meatpacking plants in eight states, following another Labor Department investigation.

As Reuters previously reported, a record number of unaccompanied migrant minors entered the country in recent years, with many entering federal shelters and then released to sponsors, usually relatives, while immigration authorities resolve their requests for refuge in the U.S.

But authorities are struggling with long-term follow-up to prevent minors from being sucked into a vast network of enablers, including labour contractors, who recruit workers for big plants and other employers. At times they have steered kids into jobs that are illegal, grueling and meant for adults. The majority of minors Reuters found working were from Central America.

Separately, the Biden administration said earlier this year it will speed up the deportation relief process for immigrants in the U.S. illegally who witness or experience labour abuses.

“We also absolutely need to protect workers who do come forward and participate in wage and hour and other worker protection investigations and activities,” one official said on the Monday call.

— Reporting for Reuters by Nandita Bose in Washington and Mica Rosenberg in New York; additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Joshua Schneyer in New York.

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In the worst-case scenarios, adult children can begin acting like spoiled two-year-olds, throwing fits and demanding what they want. The parents may cave into the spoiled adult children’s actions, allowing the destructive behaviour to continue. When parents allow children to behave poorly and take advantage of their kindness and goodwill, it sucks energy from the farm team. Unless someone calls your children on their immature behaviour, they may fail to thrive in other parts of their lives. Marital struggles may result if they feel others should take care of them, and they refuse to take responsibility for their own lives.

Here’s some healthy approaches for you to consider:

The first step is to be aware of what is going on and realize that there are other ways of interacting.

• Identify the problem you are facing. Name it.
• Talk directly with your children, and their spouses about your concerns.
• Have regular family meetings with an agenda to discuss issues. Ensure that everyone has the opportunity to have their concerns heard. Ask everyone to be prepared to talk and listen with respect. Use a talking stick like a stuffed toy. The person holding the toy gets to speak without interruption.
• Yelling doesn’t have to happen. There are other ways to communicate. Raised voices are usually a result of exasperation, anger, or feeling powerless. It’s a knee-jerk reaction to frustration. If you find yourself yelling, ask yourself, “Why am I yelling?” If someone is yelling at you, ask them, “Why are you yelling?” You can ask them to stop yelling or choose to talk to them later when they are speaking more respectfully.
• Crying can be an honest expression of sadness or joy, but it can also be used as a tool to manipulate others through guilt. When someone is crying, it may help to ask, “What is this really about?” and allow the other person to answer.
• Farm founders do not need to accept bullying from their children. I have seen this happen recently where the parents have forgotten who worked hard for four decades to build up the farm. Parents get to choose how to transfer their assets. There is no obligation for founders to give any of their assets to their adult children (unless it is part of the compensation package for the adult child who has been working alongside you without full compensation or some other legal obligation).

I am seeing an increase of widows who own land being bullied by their non-farming children. This needs to stop. Draw on your trusted advisers to help you facilitate some tough conversations with pushy adult children.

• Choose only to interact when people are speaking to you in a respectful tone of voice and manner. Set timelines or deadlines as to when you need a response; for example, “You need to get back to me about this by tomorrow at noon.”
• Before you dive into a conversation with your children, daughter-in-law (DIL) or son-in-law (SIL), it is important to figure out what you are willing to negotiate, what is flexible, and what is non-negotiable. You may want to write these things down, and use it as a script at your family meeting.
• Adult children can be masters at driving a wedge between parents, so be prepared as a couple to present a united front. Farm founders should also make sure that they aren’t pitting children against each other.
• Consider the fact that if you are unable to work well together with your adult children, they may need to find other options for working elsewhere in a joint venture with a non-family member.
• Treat your adult children, DILs, and SILs as adults and expect them to act as adults. Some may no longer like being called “the kids.” You get the behaviour you accept.
• It’s OK for you as founders and parents to change the level of support or the type of support you give your adult children and their spouses. Circumstances change, and in tough weather seasons like the fall of 2018, you may have to make some financial shifts to meet payments. What do you need to let go of?
• The DIL or SIL may have been raised with different expectations around parental support or inheritance. In-laws may be able and willing to give a different level or type of support to a child and his/her spouse than the other side of the family. Remember, “different is not wrong, it is just different.” No judgment.
• Look at what other farm families are doing to get an idea about what might fall into the realm of “normal and reasonable.” You don’t have to copy the neighbours, but it will likely help give you perspective on creating solutions. You might be surprised to find that parents don’t need to bail out children when they make poor choices or overspend, or that no one else in the neighbourhood is still washing their 30-year-old’s clothing for them.

Does any of this resonate with you? If so, start by identifying two things that you need to work on so that your household can function in a healthy way. It’s OK to say “enough is enough” and put your foot down. Set some tough-love boundaries and stop enabling your adult child to keep acting childish.

Be aware that mental illness may also be a factor in poor behaviour. Recognize the signs of depression or ask your local mental health worker and doctor for insight.

Avoiding the tough conversations will not help your farm or family thrive.

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