Cyndi's Two Cents

Legacy of farm safety education

Commentary.

The first time I met Marilyn Adams was at a Farm Progress Show in the late 1980’s.  She was leaned over a table showing three seed company-capped 8-year old farm kids how easy it would be to accidentally suffocate in grain.  Using a toy gravity bed wagon and one of the little people from a Playskool farm set, Marilyn demonstrated how little time it takes, once the unloading door is opened, for grain to funnel toward the door and suck the toy person down into the grain.

Over the years, I’ve interviewed many people about farm safety.  All have been informational, but none have had the lasting impact on me that Marilyn’s message did.  Watching her demonstrate over and over again how quickly and easily a child can slip below the surface in a wagon filled with grain, knowing that her 11-year old son had died that way, touched me deeply.  How painful it must have been for her to relive that memory over and over again.  How selfless it was for her to use her own personal tragedy to save others.

In the Fall of 1986, while helping with harvest on his parents’ Iowa farm, 11-year old Keith Algreen suffocated in a gravity flow wagon full of corn.  His mother, Marilyn Adams, founded Farm Safety for Just Kids in hopes of preventing others from doing the same.

Through a lot of hard work and contributions, Farm Safety 4 Just Kids grew into an international 501(c)3 non-profit organization that has reached thousands of children, youth and their families each year with life saving farm safety and health information.

We learned late last month that the board of directors for Farm Safety for Just Kids has decided to dissolve the organization at the end of the year.  The group says its mission of education, research and outreach on farm safety issues will continue through a similar organization based in Alabama called the Progressive Agriculture Foundation.  As part of the announcement, Farm Safety for Just Kids says it will donate $5,000 to both the National 4-H Council and National FFA Organization.

Not every one of us has the strength to turn a great tragedy and personal loss into something positive.  The Farm Safety 4 Just Kids message and education grew to include animal, chemical, ATV tractor and rural roadway in addition to grain safety.   The mission: Promote a safe farm environment to prevent health hazards, injuries, and fatalities to children and youth.

Looking back on the past 3 decades, it is my hope that Marilyn Adams knows she made a difference for many farm families.