2/ Numbers don’t lie: Nebraska farm labor contractors hiring local teens plunged from 31 in 2015 to 16 in 2024 and just 15 in 2025. ~7,000 detasselers yearly, but ~80% were under 18 historically, and those opportunities are vanishing fast. https://t.co/AW6DHoVGXH
1/ Nebraska teens used to build real work ethic detasseling corn: early mornings, mud, heat, earning cash the hard way. That tradition is dying. Local kid crews are getting squeezed out. The same policies destroying opportunities elsewhere will finish it off. Facts + California comparison.