‘Can my 2-year-old drive a tractor or combine?’ Federal law has a surprising answer
Youngsters have worked on family farms for generations, but federal labor law is very specific about when and in what jobs minors under 16 can work, said Audry Thompson, staff attorney at the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law.
Sept. 1, 2026
By Mary Hightower
University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Fast facts
- Federal law specifies when, what labor minors can perform
- State child labor laws may vary
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Youngsters have worked on family farms for generations, but federal labor law is very specific about when and in what jobs minors under 16 can work, said Audry Thompson, staff attorney at the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law.
Thompson provided specifics during her webinar “Minors Working on the Farm: Child Labor Laws for Agriculture,” hosted by the National Agricultural Law Center on Aug. 19.
“When we look at the history of child labor in the United States, agricultural work is really the first kind of work that minors were doing prior to the Industrial Revolution,” she said. “There’s a long history of minors working on farms and often, those farms were where they lived.”
The Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, defines many areas of labor law in the United States. It was passed in 1938, a time when the United States had nearly 7 million farms and work by minors was common. However, the FLSA does impose limits on child labor in general and on farms.
There is a significant exception to child labor laws on the farm.
“A child of any age can be employed by their parent at any time in any occupation on a farm owned or operated by that parent,” Thompson said. “Essentially, if a minor is working for their parent on their parent’s farm, federal labor law does not have anything to say about them.”
However, the parental exemption does not apply when children are working on non-parental farms or when doing secondary processing on ag products raised by others, even if parental permission has been given.
There may also be limits imposed by state child welfare laws.
“Is it a violation of federal labor law to let your two-year-old drive your tractor or combine? No, it is not,” she said. “It will be your state Family Services or, potentially, criminal charges at that point if that child is injured.”
When not working on a farm run by their parents, children with parental consent under 12 may work on a small farm outside of school hours, provided the child is not doing work the Department of Labor classifies as hazardous. Actions defined as hazardous include handling decontamination equipment, operating power-driven farm equipment, applying anhydrous ammonia or other specific chemicals, or working inside a manure pit.
The Fair Labor Standards Act specifies that:
- Children 12-13 can work non-hazardous jobs on any size farm as long as it is outside of school hours and has either parental consent or if the labor is conducted on a farm where the parent is employed.
- Children 14-15 can work any non-hazardous farm job outside school hours.
- Youth 16 and older can work any farm job, including those categorized as hazardous, any time.
Thompson noted that ag operations need to pay attention to state labor laws as well.
“There are many states that come in above this and say no work — period — below the age of 14,” Thompson said.
A recording of the presentation is available online. Find additional articles on child labor online at the National Agricultural Law Center.
About the National Agricultural Law Center
Created by Congress in 1987, the National Agricultural Law Center serves as the nation’s leading source of agricultural and food law research and information. The NALC works with producers, agribusinesses, state and federal policymakers, lenders, Congressional staffers, attorneys, land grant universities, students, and many others to provide objective, nonpartisan agricultural and food law research and information to the nation’s agricultural community.
The NALC is a unit of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and works in close partnership with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, National Agricultural Library.
To learn more about ag and food research in Arkansas, visit aaes.uada.edu. Follow the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station on LinkedIn and sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Arkansas Agricultural Research Report. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture,
communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices.
Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service,
the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s
historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 22 entities within the University of Arkansas
System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three system
campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
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Media Contact:
Phillip Powell
National Agricultural Law Center
ppowell1@uark.edu