Sowing seeds of farm safety with children

Farming has changed. While industrialized agriculture and farm consolidation have led to fewer and larger farms overall, the number of smaller “lifestyle” or hobby farms has grown, and that means the number of farms with children living on them has increased as well. According to a fact sheet compiled by the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety (NCCRAHS), 900,000 kids live on farms, and about half that are part of their farm’s workforce. These kids are exposed to all the dangers — toxic chemicals, massive machinery, potentially dangerous livestock, extreme weather conditions, and more — that are an inevitable part of farming life.

In the face of these hazards, it’s important that parents and other adults working on the farm follow best safety practices and maintain healthy boundaries, designating where kids can roam, what they can do, and what areas and activities are off-limits.

Play spaces should be safe spaces

If you have children living on your farm, it’s a good idea to designate a play area that’s separated with a fence from areas where the farm’s serious work goes on. The play area should be at least 50 feet from the hub of farm activity and an equal distance from any roadways. Keep it free from pests, wood or metal scraps, and open water. And there should be shelter — either naturally occurring or created with a shade or play structure — to protect the kids from sun, wind, and dust.

Beyond this designated play area, you should childproof the rest of the farm’s gates, barns, equipment, and sheds to ensure that children don’t wander into places where they’re at risk.

Domesticated but still dangerous

When farm animals feel threatened or cornered, they can be unpredictable and, given the size of some livestock, dangerous. Never let children, especially young children, be around farm animals unsupervised. Make the rules of interaction clear and give your animals plenty of their own space. It’s best if you make sure that youngsters working around dangerous livestock are at least 16 years old. Don’t assume, however, that teens are safe; according to NCCRAHS, while ag injuries have trended down in recent years, the 16–19 age range has seen a significant uptick.

For most farm equipment, it's one driver, no riders

According to the NCCRAHS fact sheet, 47 percent of child farm fatalities were due to various forms of transportation, including tractors and ATVs. Children should not be given rides on farm machines, particularly on booms, buckets, or even your lap.

In fact, many kinds of farm equipment — especially tractors and certain all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) — are not meant to carry passengers at all, and as such they often lack passenger safety restraints. Bumps, ditches, and uneven pastures can knock around or eject riders, and having a co-rider on board — especially a young one — can distract drivers and interfere with safe machine operation.

Cultivate safety rules for kids on the farm

In concept, growing up on a farm might seem idyllic. But in terms of the dangers farm operations pose to children, they should be considered industrial spaces. According to the NCCRAHS fact sheet, 33 kids are hurt every day in agricultural accidents, with a child dying every three days due to farming-related injuries.

Here are some tips for making your farm a kid-safe zone:

Make sure kids can’t access equipment that has sharp edges, such as plows and harrows, and keep them clear of any work that’s going on in the machine shed, farmyard, or field.
Keep all ag chemicals safely locked away and make these storage areas kid-free zones.
Keep kids away from any place where grain is handled or stored. Harvested grain in bins, wagons, silos, etc., looks a lot like play-sand. It’s not. It only takes seconds for a child to become engulfed.
Are there any child-sized holes in the floors of your farm buildings? If so, make sure they’re securely covered.
Keep kids away from high places such as haymows, scaffolding, or silos, as well as spaces where large objects — such as hay bales or stacks of tractor tires — can topple over onto them.
Fence off areas where drowning is a risk, including wells, farm ponds, watering tanks, and manure lagoons.
Children can handle some jobs on the farm, but make sure there are clear protocols for doing them. Kids need to know what safe behavior looks like, and a routine for chores is one of the best ways of making that clear.
Make sure kids know the signs of weather-related illnesses such as hypothermia or heat exhaustion and heat-stroke. Adequate cold-temperature gear in winter, and frequent breaks and abundant water when it’s hot in summer, are key.
Post emergency numbers for first responders prominently, and in multiple places. Make sure kids can access phones and radios and that they know what to do in case of emergency.
Lead by example. However much you lecture kids about safe behavior on the farm, they won’t listen if you don’t model that behavior yourself.

Teen farm workers

Teenagers like to think they’ve outgrown childish restrictions. But however much they may protest that they’re too old for the rules that kept them safe when they were little, they’re not ready for adult responsibilities yet. This is perhaps truer on the farm than in many other settings.

More than 265,600 teens who didn’t live on the farm were hired in agriculture in 2014, the most current data available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Farm work gives teens income, opportunities for hands-on learning, and a chance to see the fruits of their labor. Given the numbers of teens employed by the nation’s farm operations, it’s imperative that farmers train young farm workers properly.

Here are three ways you can make sure teen farm workers stay safe:

Model farm working behaviors
Use farm tools and farm equipment properly — and demonstrate key safety points. Encourage awareness of the surroundings, respect, and patience by practicing them yourself.
Interact with them
After you’ve instructed your teen farm workers on the best and safest way to perform a farm task, stick around to watch them perform it. Correct their mistakes and review proper procedures as needed.
Understand that your teen farm workers are still kids
A little patience and consistent enforcement of the rules can help create a good relationship between you and your young farm workers. Remember that they are still learning how to assess and manage risks. They may not always understand the consequences of their actions and may not always be paying scrupulous attention during training sessions. Consider documenting the farm work training in writing, and make sure this documentation is readily available as a reference.

For more information, NCCRAHS offers a checklist that provides farmers with a comprehensive set of guidelines to follow to ensure their farms are kid-friendly.

Sources:  National Farm Medicine Center (NFMC); National Farm Work Ministry (NFWM); farm-equipment.com

The information included here was obtained from sources believed to be reliable, however Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company, SI, and its employees make no guarantee of results and assume no liability in connection with any training, materials, suggestions, or information provided. It is the user’s responsibility to confirm compliance with any applicable local, state, or federal regulations. Information obtained from or via Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company, SI, should not be used as the basis for legal advice and should be confirmed with alternative sources.

4/2025