A new law taking effect today sends 100 thousand dollars to farm safety efforts in Minnesota. Representative Jeff Brand from Saint Peter points to a number of fatal accidents in the last half of 2019 involving grain bins or carbon monoxide. He says, “Landon Gran passed away about a year ago now. He should be celebrating his graduation from high school, but unfortunately he met his end in mid-August to a grain bin sweep auger.”
Fifty thousand dollars goes for grants to farmers for safety measures and retrofitting, including modifications to prevent older tractors from rolling over. And there’s fifty thousand dollars for awareness and education. That includes designing a digital app that lets someone remotely power-off a grain storage facility and call for help.
Brand says farm safety education must start at a very young age — but it’s also “something we should hit at all ages. Everybody needs a reminder once in a while. Sometimes people get busy and they forget about the safety things ’cause they’ve got a list of 150 other things to get done.”