Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), if you are working for a parent or guardian, there are no age requirements for working on a farm. Youth of any age may be employed at any time, in any agricultural occupation on a farm owned or operated by their parent or person standing in place of their parent. There are no maximum daily and weekly hours and days per week a youth can work under the FLSA. Under the FLSA, if you are not working for a parent or guardian, you must be 16 years old to work on a farm during school hours and 14 years old to work on a farm outside of school hours. You may work on a farm if you are at least 12 years old with written parental consent, or if you are working on a farm where a parent/guardian is employed. If you are under 12 years old and you have written consent to work on a farm from a parent or guardian, the Federal minimum wage provisions do not apply. Some farm jobs are considered hazardous, such as operating heavy farm machinery and handling toxic pesticides and fertilizer, and are therefore prohibited for workers under age 18. For a listing of hazardous farm jobs, see occupations involved in agriculture. However, it is possible to obtain an exemption to work in the hazardous jobs if you are being supervised in a school's vocational agriculture program or have completed a certification program in operating machinery (offered by a Cooperative Service of a land grant university or by your school's vo-ag instructor.) State laws vary on this subject. Here is a summary of the state child labor laws regarding agricultural employment. For more information contact your state's labor standards office.