The Olmsted/Wabasha County Corn and Soybean Growers understand the importance of farm safety and outreach. They invited Jack Volz, an expert in grain bin entrapment, to participate in their annual plot day to help farmers understand the precautions they should be taking while in their grain bins.

“Jack has worked firsthand to improve the techniques to save someone buried in grain and brought insight about what to do and what not to do if you or someone with you is buried,” says Olmsted/Wabasha County Corn and Soybean Board Chair Ben Storm. “He really got the farmers thinking, which is important to help reducing the amount of farm accidents.”

Volz brought his grain bin entrapment trailer along to the event. The trailer replicates a situation of someone being buried in grain. He utilizes the trailer across Minnesota to give demonstrations to fire departments and other organizations to show the proper way to remove someone who is buried.

“The entrapment trailer brings a real-life scenario to life,” says Storm, who also serves as treasurer of the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council. “I don’t think many people understand how easy it is to get stuck in grain and how beneficial this training is to saving lives.”

The Olmsted/Wabasha County Corn and Soybean Growers Association is affiliated with the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council, which oversees the investment of soybean checkoff dollars on behalf of the nearly 28,000 soybean farmers in Minnesota. The Council is governed by the rules of a federally mandated checkoff program that requires all soybean producers pay a fee on the soybeans they sell. This money is used to promote, educate and develop market opportunities for soybeans.