2023 Progressive Agriculture Safety Day

On Wednesday, September 27^th, over 350 Clinton County 6^th grade students participated in a Progressive Ag Safety Day sponsored by the Clinton County Farm Bureau’s Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) Program.  Ag Literacy Coordinator Susan Kleiboeker served as the program coordinator for the event, with the assistance of many other county groups and volunteers.

This was the 12^th Annual Progressive Ag Safety Day in Clinton County.  This year students from Albers, All Saints Academy, Aviston, Bartelso, Breese District 12, Carlyle, Damiansville, Germantown, and Trinity Hoffman rotated through 6 different safety-themed stations from 9 am to 2 pm.  The day was broken into a morning and afternoon session, with approximately half of the students attending at one time. Stations included:  Animal Safety, ATV Awareness, Chemical Lookalikes, Confinement Safety (Manure Pit), PTO Safety, and Water Safety.

The goal of the program is for each of the 6^th graders to go home and talk to their families about how to stay safe and when a situation arises to hopefully make good choices.  Although safety around the farm was stressed, many stations focused on general safety items that can apply to everyone whether involved in farming or not.

Students attending the event received free Farm Safety t-shirts provided by the Progressive Ag Safety Foundation as part of a nationwide program teaching kids about farm safety.

This program is only possible with the large number of local volunteers giving their time to educate students about safety.  FFA Chapters from Breese Central, Carlyle, and Christ Our Rock also assisted with the program.  Over 50 students and others volunteered to make this day possible.  A special thanks to all those local volunteers!