[emidoots]

In Iowa, it is legal for (US citizen) children as young as the age of 12 to work on farms, for an unlimited number of hours, so long as their parents grant permission and they do not miss school. They have so far been unsuccessful at legislating to raise the age limit from 12 to 14[0] as the Children's Act for Responsible Employment act has failed to pass, due to strong opposition from agricultural industry groups.

Many of these children are pressured into it by parents who have no other financial options, as described in the video I linked above.

[0] https://www.iowapublicradio.org/news-from-npr/news-from-npr/...

[elevation]

I'm not in AG but I'd like to relax the current restrictions on juvenile labor. If 12 year olds can work on the family farm, why not let them legally work elsewhere?

As a 12 year old tech enthusiast I would have been thrilled to work a few hours a week for the Geek Squad. Or I could have worked at a small business entering invoices into Quickbooks, answering the phone, or running the till. I wouldn't even have minded pushing a broom at the pizza place nearby if it'd come with an employee discount!

As it was, all I could do was cut grass -- which is not safer, or more educational, or as profitable for me as some of those other jobs would have been.