Marshall firefighter, Ed Harper, talks to a group of local kindergartners at Wednesday's first annual Farm Safety Day which was sponsored by the Monsanto Company. [Click to enlarge]

For two days this week, the Monsanto company was transformed from one of the area's largest seed-producing facilities into a gigantic educational establishment that was committed to teaching all Saline County youths about the importance of safety in every aspect of their young lives.

Susan Pointer, an administrative assistant at Monsanto who also doubles as one of the main organizers of the event, said the two-day event came into existence because of a similar program they created nearly two years ago.

"Two years ago, we went around to the schools and did puppet shows and skits about farm safety and it was pretty well received," Pointer said. "Safety is Monsanto's number one concern. We wanted to touch all the kids in the county as opposed to just taking a day to go to the individual schools which is why we created this program."

The Farm Safety Day included several interesting stations for the students that made their trek to the facility.

"The most interesting station has been the highway patrol rollover vehicle," Pointer said. "The water safety station has also been very informative."

Although the program was titled Farm Safety Day, the stations included information on everything from seatbelt safety to a nutrition puppet show.

"We tried to have some general safety and not just farming safety to get all of the kids involved," Pointer said. "We had a harvest accident last year in the county and I don't ever want to hear we've had another child in an accident that could have been avoided."

Amanda Fagan, a receptionist who works at Monsanto who also helped organize the event said that it was extremely pleasing to see children so young learning the importance of being safe in every aspect of their lives.

"It's neat to see kids of all ages so involved in something like this," Fagan said. "Safety starts with our children."

Pointer then heaped praise on the Monsanto employees and Marshall FFA youth who helped to make the event a success.

"Our employees have taken this to heart and know the importance of something like this," Pointer said. "It's great to see young people involved with this helping younger children out. They'll take it better from the younger kids who they really look up to."

Contact Eric Coley at

marshallfaith@socket.net