CAYUGA CO., N.Y. — Each year, Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) of Cayuga County delivers a Safe Tractor and Machinery Operation Certification course, specifically to educate youth. Youth from Cayuga and the surrounding counties are invited to participate in this very important safety program. This year, 17 teenagers from Cayuga, Tompkins, Wayne and Onondaga Counties successfully completed the 6 week (24 hour) safety certification course.
The success of this safety program has been made possible by several local volunteers and farmers. We began our program with an introduction to Tractor Safety basics, featuring speakers from the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health and Main & Pinckney Equipment Dealership. Both instructors talked about personal safety equipment and best practices for farm safety. Students then visited Raymond Donald & Sons in Venice where Robert Donald, Doug LaFave and Dean Whitten discussed safe chemical handling, storage and other agricultural hazards. Jon and Julie Patterson taught implement, livestock, silo, hay and manure safety at Patterson Farms in Auburn. Students traveled to Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES center, in Auburn, where they discovered the various parts of tractors and associated implements. They also gained hands-on experience operating tractors (provided by O’Hara Machinery Equipment Dealership of Auburn), skid-steers, and ATV’s from a series of volunteer instructors including: Cale Jirinec, Glanville and Bryce Jirinec. Special thanks to John Komarisky of Main & Pinckney Equipment Dealership for providing tractors, machinery and volunteer services in conducting the Youth Certification Testing Day.
–Cornell Cooperative Extension Cayuga County
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