The Oswego County Fairgrounds in Sandy Creek will be the place for learning about safety as more than 450 fifth-graders from seven schools attend the 6th annual Oswego County Progressive Agriculture Safety Day.
The day-long event is set for June 4, 2008. The goal of the event is for kids to learn about preventing agricultural and home injuries and deaths by teaching children about potential hazards and how to avoid them
Guest presenters will use a hands-on learning approach to pass their valuable, life saving knowledge on to the children. Demonstrations involving farm equipment, displays and hands-on activities will be used to ensure that the students have a fun filled, educational day.
Each class will attend five of the 21 stations to learn about a different safety related topic. Some of the topics covered include emergency 911 phone calls, safe use of ATV's, mechanical hazards, disabilities awareness, and farm, fire and lawnmower safety.
After the students have lunch, they all attend a group presentation where a newspaper filled dummy will be shredded by a manure spreader attached to a tractor. This demonstration shows the children the potential dangers associated with farming.
Each year in the United States, more than 20,000 injuries and 100 deaths occur in agricultural related accidents.
The program is coordinated by Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Oswego County, Oswego County Farm Bureau, Oswego County Soil and Water Conservation District and State Farm Insurance of Oswego County. The major local sponsors for this event are Constellation Energy, State Farm Insurance, Oswego Wal-Mart and Entergy Nuclear Northeast.