News

Fall a good time to celebrate National Farm Safety Week

An extension farm safety and health educator says it’s no coincidence National Farm Safety Week occurs at the beginning of fall.

Emily Krekelberg with the University of Minnesota tells Brownfield farmers are gearing up for a busy harvest season.

We’ve already had guys out (harvesting) corn silage, and so I really like to emphasize this time of year two main things. And that is general health and wellness of the farmer, and then tractor and equipment safety.”

She says farmers sometimes overlook the importance of their health and the role it plays in being safe on the farm.

“But it’s a really big one. And then of course, with extra use of equipment and extra equipment on the road this time of year, we need to make sure that we are really sending those messages home and being very clear about how we be safe with that equipment as well.”

Krekelberg says the most common cause of farm fatalities continues to be tractor rollovers.  She encourages farmers to use rollover protection structures on older tractors, especially those with narrow fronts or that don’t have cabs.