Children and Youth: Living, working and playing safely on farms

Join us as we discuss "Putting Farm Safety Into Practice," featuring the newly released Agricultural Youth Work Guidelines, which help parents and supervisors assign age appropriate tasks to youth. We'll also discuss non-working children and visitors to farms and ranches, and ways to keep them safe.

Farms and ranches are great places to live, work and play, and there are numerous benefits to growing up on them. However, agricultural worksites are among the most dangerous in the U.S., resulting in numerous injuries and fatalities to youth. For working youth, too many of these injuries and deaths are the result of performing work that does not match their abilities.

Marsha Salwedel, Ed.D

National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety

Marsha Salzwedel is a Project Scientist and Agricultural Youth Safety Specialist at the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety (part of the National Farm Medicine Center) in Marshfield, Wisconsin. She is the project manager for the agritourism safety project, the principal investigator for the agricultural youth work guidelines project, and the program manager for the Childhood Agricultural Safety Network. She earned a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership from Edgewood College in Madison. Marsha grew up on a farm and maintains her ties with that community through the farm that she and her family still own and operate.