News

MU Extension to farmers: COVID-19 knows no boundaries

Farmers are being urged to practice social distancing and other prevention measures on and off the farm.

Rusty Lee, University of Missouri Extension agronomist field specialist, says farmers need to be mindful of cross contamination, “Maybe we’ve got multiple workers using the same tractor, for example. So, one worker hops off, one worker hops on and we get a new set of germs. An idea is can we limit the use of a piece of equipment to ONE person?”

If that cannot be done, he says disinfecting equipment after use will protect the next person. Lee says farmers need to wash their hands frequently with soap and water because hand sanitizers will NOT remove grease.

When corn seed is delivered this spring, he says, ask your delivery person ahead of time not to use your equipment to unload the product. It’s a little extra work but he says it’ll help cut down on cross-contamination.

Lee says the threat of coronavirus is real and farmers should not think they’re too tough to catch it, “And what we need them to understand is they have GOT to stay healthy. They have got to stay able to perform their work. And this coronavirus is no joke. It knows no boundaries.”

Lee says there is no better time to use technology to communicate with farm workers and family members who work on the farm.