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Ag safety specialist warns about harvest safety

A professor in ag safety and health at Ohio State is warning farmers about the increased dangers during harvest amid drought conditions.

Dee Jepsen says low moisture levels bring more risk.

 “This year of all years, safety is very important, especially when we think about the dangers that the droughts bringing us with an extra dry harvest season,” she says. “The dry matter that’s out there on our fields, whether it has already been harvested and it’s laying in a field.”

She tells Brownfield many Ohio counties are under burn bans.

“The burn ban was put in place by our state fire marshall,” she says. “The Fire Academy is even recommending that farmers be vigilant, assign a tractor with a disc that could just be sitting there in case it’s needed.”

Brownfield interviewed Jepsen during National Farm Safety Week at the 2024 Farm Science Review in London, Ohio.

AUDIO: Dee Jepsen, Ohio State University