Lyon County soybean farmers put their checkoff dollars to good use to help the community. The Lyon County Corn & Soybean Growers donated funds to the Taunton Fire Department for grain bin rescue equipment and Sketchers soy-based work boots to the Marshall Fire Department.
The Taunton Fire Department purchased ropes and harnesses for department use. This equipment was purchased for grain bin safety in mind, but the hope is to never need to use it.
“Our goal is to eventually make a donation to each fire department in the county to help with grain bin safety equipment needs,” Board Treasurer Chase VanKeulen said. “The fire departments in our county and around the state do a great job and we want to give them this small boost to help them do their jobs when they’re needed.”
According to a Purdue study, there were 89 non-fatal cases and 24 fatal cases involving agriculture-confined spaces across the U.S. in 2022. This is a 41% increase over 2021, the highest number of cases reported frequency in the last decade. In total, 42 of the accidents were grain-related grain bin accidents, a 49% increase from 2021.
On top of grain bin entrapment cases, there were a reported 41 non-grain related cases, incidents involving livestock waste handling facilities, entanglements inside confined spaces, falls from confined space structures and grain dust explosions or fires.
Source: mnsoybean.org
Photo Credit: istock-fotokostic
Categories: Minnesota, Crops, Corn, Soybeans