Farm Safety Incorporates Pesticide Education
What can happen to a five-year-old girl when she is left by herself outside on a farm? What about a four-year-old boy who likes to ride on the tractor with his grandpa?
/Agriculture News Articles/ - UNIVERSITY PARK, PA, February 07, 2008 - What can happen to a five-year-old girl when she is left by herself outside on a farm? What about a four-year-old boy who likes to ride on the tractor with his grandpa?
These are two of five different farm safety scenarios presented in the Penn State publication "Farm Safety Stories", developed by Kay Moyer, farm safety educator with Penn State Cooperative Extension in Lancaster County. Funded by a National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety grant, the workbook addresses the primary causes of unintentional injuries among Old Order Amish and Mennonite farm children. Accompanying each story in the book are instructions for teachers and parents, true or false questions for students, and opportunities to discuss answers in the classroom or at home.
"Because more than half of the Amish community is under the age of 18, I realized there was a need for teaching farm safety to youth," explains Moyer. Along with the workbook, she developed a program that could be taken into the Old Order Anabaptist schools last year and visited 65 classrooms, educating over 1,700 children. Along with the workbook, Moyer uses puppet shows that explain farm safety in a fun and entertaining way. She also developed a "hazard board" complete with a miniature farmstead with examples of hazards on the farm and various handouts and posters.
Topics in her program included large animal safety, farm equipment safety, and chemical/pesticide safety.
Moyer says she refers to the resources provided by the national organization Farm Safety 4 Just Kids and adapting them to her traditional communities. "It's important to make the information culturally appropriate," she says. "Word is catching on and there is a big demand for this type of information. There are a lot of young farmers who need basic information on farm and greenhouse safety, especially pesticide and chemical safety training." In one of her safety lessons, Moyer fills bottles with different products to show that without labels, a person can't properly identify the contents to determine whether it's save for human consumption.
Pesticide safety should be part of an integrated pest management (IPM) approach. IPM is a safe, effective, and scientific approach to managing pests. IPM uses knowledge of pests' habits and needs to help implement pest prevention tactics as a first line of defense. Pesticides are used only when needed, and only products that pose the least-toxic, least risk of exposure to residents are chosen. In general, IPM reduces the need for pesticides, which in itself reduces pesticide exposure.
If pesticides are necessary, pesticide applicators should follow label directions exactly, and wear protective clothing and store and dispose of pesticides properly. For more information on pesticide safety, visit Penn State's Pesticide Education Program at http://www.pested.psu.edu/.
Moyer has taught over 3,000 Lancaster County's Amish and Mennonite community members about farm safety issues for over 15 years. Drawing from her experience as a registered nurse, Moyer also teaches CPR and provides agricultural emergency response training to the Amish and Mennonite communities. Last year, she designed a program for the Amish and Mennonite women who hold 'Sister's Day,' where the sisters and mothers get together. The program included farm and home safety, fire prevention, emergency management, CPR, chocking and first aid.
Moyer plans to continue her farm safety programs to youth and adults in the Amish and Mennonite communities this year. For more information on her programs, contact Moyer at (717) 394-6851, or by email at klm26@psu.edu. For more information on farm safety for youth, visit the Farm Safety 4 Just Kids Web site at http://www.fs4jk.org.
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Kristie Auman-Bauer
Pennsylvania IPM Program
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United States 16802
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