Progressive agriculture safety day attended by fourth graders

Butler County ISU Extension and Outreach hosted their annual Progressive Agriculture Safety Day® on May 3, at the Butler County fairgrounds.  It was attended by 150 fourth grade students from Aplington-Parkersburg, Clarksville, and North Butler schools and their teachers. 
    For many children, the farm is a home, a playground and a place where they do chores.  For others, it is a nice place to visit and play with their farm cousins or friends.  Teaching youth how to take some of the responsibility for their own safety on the farm, or even at their own homes, was the subject of the 2018 Progressive Agriculture Safety Day®.  Hands-on experiences led by local community members taught Safety Day participants lifelong farm and home safety lessons. Safety topics included Animal, ATV, Bike, Chemical, Electrical, Firearm, Fire, Grain, Railroad, Sun, Tractor/PTO, and Water.
    The success of Safety Day is due in large part to the generous support of many local organizations and volunteers.  The following individuals and organizations assisted at the Safety Day in presenting safety sessions: Allison Fire Department (Craig Cramer), A-P FFA, Angie Rieck-Hinz (ISU Extension Field Agronomist), Butler County 4-H Council members, Butler County REC (Andy Uthoff and Paul Luecke), Butler County Sheriff’s Department (Jason Johnson) and Butler County Conservation (Steve Martin), Deike Implement (Jason Deike) and Kubota (Steven Davies), Francis Edeker, and Iowa DNR (Susan Stocker).  The following area businesses and organizations provided support to Safety Day through donations:  Butler County Dairy Promoters, Butler County Farm Bureau, Butler County Public Health (Jennifer Becker), and MidAmerican Energy. 
    Thank you to all of our sponsors!  Butler County ISU Extension and Outreach and the Safety Day sponsors hope that the students who attended the Safety Day will maintain their new safety attitudes and safe farm behaviors throughout their lives.  Ultimately, they hope to see a reduction in the rate of deaths and injuries among children living or visiting farms. 
 
Read more in the May 10 edition of the STAR or TRIBUNE.