A farmer walks along the surface of a grain bin. What he does not realize is the grain beneath his feet froze during the winter, and the top sheet he’s walking on is suspended in the air. One more step, and he will break through into a stream of gushing grain below. Burying him up to his knees, the grain will be waist high in 15 seconds. Thirty more seconds and he will be completely submerged, at which point the pressure of the grain will slowly suffocate him with each breath.
It’s one of many fatal scenarios in one of the U.S.’s deadliest jobs — farming.
With hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of injuries annually, farmers have a lot to gain from farm safety procedures, one of many topics and highlights at the 31st annual Michigan Agriculture Expo, or the Ag Expo. The event is being held Tuesday through Thursday at the corner of Farm Lane and Mount Hope Road, behind MSU’s Lot 89.
The Ag Expo features a variety of presentations and farm equipment vendors. The expo attracted 16,000 visitors last year, and is expected to increase the number this year with new exhibits, said Laura Probyn, communication manager with MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, or CANR.
“As Michigan’s land grant university, our mission is directly tied to education and research and outreach,” Probyn said. “This is an outreach event. This is an educational event to tell folks about the research going on here, about the work that we’re doing.”
New attractions
There will be several new attractions this year at the expo focusing on education and safety.
The National Education Center for Agricultural Safety will bring a grain pressure simulator to demonstrate the hazards of grain bins with volunteers from the audience. The simulator can hold 190 bushels of grain and buries volunteers up to their knees, said Dan Neenan, manager for the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety.
“We’re using actual grain, and people in there to do this type of training,” Neenan said. “To have the victim in there, they can come out and can say, ‘As soon as the grain came over the top of my knees, I couldn’t get out.’”
Ag Expo attendants can expect to see more safety feature in the future, said Mike Staton, an MSU Extension educator in Allegan County who will give a presentation Thursday after the grain pressure simulation.
“Farm safety has been talked about in the past, but we are in the process of making a more dedicated effort to have time allotted and space allotted to do farm safety every year at Ag Expo,” Staton said.
Also new to the expo is a stock dog demonstration to help with communication between farmers and herd dogs used to manage animals, as well as MSU’s new Anaerobic Digestion Research and Education Center, which utilizes animal waste for energy and will be open for tours.
Continuing education
The Ag Expo offers not only an educational opportunity, but provides an event for businesses and companies dealing with farm equipment to connect with potential buyers. With more than 235 exhibits for farm equipment and supplies, the Ag Expo attracts interested customers throughout Michigan. Last year, 40 percent of those who visited the Ag Expo came to see or purchase the equipment, according to a survey done by CANR.
Even without buyers, the Ag Expo provides companies a level of publicity from the thousands of people who visit, said Kevin Lenneman, who will work the stand for Wirth and Fedewa Livestock Equipment and Construction, a company that builds equipment for dairy farms.
“I talked to a wide variety of different people,” Lenneman said. “We are statewide, so greeting people from other areas is a big plus. We try to get our name out there.”
One of the more popular sites to visit is the CANR “Science of Agriculture and Natural Resources” tent. Run by the college, the tent features 30 exhibits and learning stations daily. These include several presentations covering topics that include wind energy, keeping pests out of yards and farms and financial strategies for farmers, said Ruth Borger, director of CANR Communications.
“I think it has always been our philosophy that education is power and knowledge is power,” Borger said. “The more that we can take the research that is being done by MSU faculty and staff and bring it to farms and agriculture producers through outreach and extension and taking it to farms, the better they then can be in their operations. It’s better for Michigan, it’s better for our communities.”
Tractor tradition
One of the most popular events at the Ag Expo, however, is the tractor pull, a competition where tractors attempt to pull the heaviest load the farthest distance. Competitors will work on the engines to give them more pulling power, sometimes spending thousands of dollars to prepare them for competitions, said Warren Townsend, the tractor pull event coordinator.
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Townsend has been competing in tractor pulls for the past decade, carrying on a tradition embraced by both his father and grandfather.
“(I like) the camaraderie and the good friends that you meet, and the good times you have doing,” Townsend said. “It’s a competition to see whether you can make your tractor perform better than the next guy’s tractor.”
About 60-70 tractors compete in the pull for the spirit of competition and bragging rights, Townsend said.
The tractors are divided in “lawn” tractors, “antique” tractors and “antique plus” tractors. The main difference is the alterations made to the tractor’s engine.
“There’s a skill involved,” Townsend said.
“You have to balance your tractor. There is a lot more involved than just making the engine perform the best it can.”
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