Farm Safety

In the 1950s, the farm was a wonderful playground. We had a lot of room and all kinds of “stuff” to play with. The stuff wasn’t intended to be play equipment—so it wasn’t “safety approved.” We can all recount stories of times when we broke something, lost something, or injured ourselves.

Farms have always been dangerous places. We did not experience a “runaway team of horses” like Dad talked about, but my brother did drive a tractor into a windmill which weakened it so much that months later a wind blew it over—along with some corn cribs.

Farm equipment safety has improved as it has become more sophisticated, but farms are still dangerous. Even so, the greatest dangers caused by farming now seem to have migrated to all of us—environmental ones.

Our concentrated food supply chain allows contaminants to spread widely and quickly.

Contaminants in our air, water, and soil caused by farming practices are increasingly linked to health issues in the general population—not just farmers.

One of our aims at Grain Place Foundation is to help educate folks about the dangers of some of what happens on the farm. I hope you saw the reports on the presentations that were made at Field Day this year addressing these issues.

Nurturing soil—nurturing community,
Jay

It’s All Connected

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Jul 24

Kurt Johnson, of the Aurora News-Register, has attended many a Grain Place Field Day. But this year hit different for him. He has already published a full article and a personal column about the experience, with two more articles in the works.

Nitrates a Growing Public Health Concern

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Jul 31

Here’s the next installment of Kurt Johnson’s coverage of Grain Place Field Day. Kurt, a journalist at the Aurora News-Register, has given permission for us to share his work.