By DEBORAH BEHRENDS
Illinois Correspondent

MALTA, Ill. — Play it safe on the farm is one of several messages that will be conveyed to rural children at this year’s DeKalb County Farm Safety Camp. The camp is designed to teach young children how to be safe as they live, work and play in their country setting.
Farm families are urged to register their children now for Farm Safety Camp by contacting the DeKalb County Farm Bureau.
The 2010 camp will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday, June 23 at Jonamac Orchard in Malta.

Children will learn how to recognize potential dangers around the farm and develop respect for these hazards in interactive sessions. The camp is designed for 8- to 12-year-old children who live on a working farm, reside in rural areas or visit farms frequently.

Rural children will be exposed to 12 safety focus areas with qualified experts discussing important messages. Safety focus areas include: ATVs, animals, bicycles, chemicals, electricity, farm machinery, fire, first aid and rescue, grain bin and grain wagons, hearing, lawn mowers and garden tractors, and semi-truck/trailer safety.

Farm Safety Camp provides children hands-on sessions such as learning safety procedures while riding ATVs, using a fire extinguisher, administering first aid, operating a lawn mower, and riding bicycles. Other sessions provide interactive exercises making safety topics fun to learn about.

Another feature of this year’s camp is a mock farm accident demonstration. Stateline Farm Rescue personnel will show children how quickly a farmer can be pulled into flowing grain and the rescue procedures to extricate him from a grain bin.

Camp hosts are Mary Lynn, Jerry, Denice and Kevin McArtor. The McArtors welcome campers to their orchard on Shabbona Road, south of Malta.

“Farm Safety Camp helps young children think about all of the dangers that they are exposed to around the farm,” said Mary Lynn. “Our goal at camp is to get kids to think about what they are doing and prevent accidents from happening.”

Mary Lynn serves on Farm Bureau’s Health & Safety Committee, which sponsors Farm Safety Camp. She also recognizes the value of promoting farm safety as a registered nurse and having a farm background.

Camp coordinator and Farm Bureau Director of Information Mariam Wassmann endorses the effectiveness of the camp program. “Our organization is committed to promoting farm safety, and we have found the day camp to be an excellent outlet for these safety messages.

“By starting at a young age we hope to impress upon youth the importance of being safe especially while working with farm equipment,” she said. “Agriculture is one of the most hazardous occupations so we have a strong desire to keep our farm families safe,” said Wassmann.

Registration for Farm Safety Camp is being accepted at the DeKalb County Farm Bureau office.

Registration forms are available at Farm Bureau, on the Farm Bureau website www.dekalbfarmbureau.org, in the county 4-H newsletter or on the 4-H website
www.extension.illinois.edu/dekalb/4hyouth.html

The deadline to register for camp is Friday, June 4. Registration fee is $10 per camper or $20 per family. Fee includes a T-shirt, lunch and materials. For additional information contact the Farm Bureau office, 815-756-6361.

Farm Safety Camp is being sponsored by the DeKalb County Farm Bureau with support from COUNTRY Financial and Illinois Farm Bureau. Additionally, local companies are providing resource people and materials for the safety stations.

Safety stations and their sponsors include: ATVs, Open Air Power Sports; bicycles, DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department; chemicals, GROWMARK and Conserv FS; electricity, Commonwealth Edison; farm animals, Bethany Animal Hospital and Malta Mustangs 4-H Club; farm machinery, DeKalb Implement and Stateline Farm Rescue; fire, DeKalb and Malta fire departments; first aid and rescue, Kishwaukee Community Hospital; grain bin and grain wagons, Monsanto; hearing, the Northern Illinois University Speech, Language & Hearing Clinic; lawn mowers and garden tractors, DeKalb Lawn & Equipment; semi-tractors and trailers, ADM; and grain bin extrication demonstration, Stateline Farm Rescue