Easton High School students
learn harvest safety first hand
Photos courtesy of Hillary Hallett
IAN SOTOMOYOR takes a turn with the crank during a recent Harvest Safety Course in Easton. Looking on, from left, is George McLaughlin of the Maine Potato Board and Kevin Marquis, Easton High School’s FFA adviser. The students were shown how quickly a finger could be severed with the use of carrots.
GEORGE McLAUGHLIN, left, of the Maine Potato Board demonstrates how quickly an article of clothing can become intertwined in a shaft during a recent Harvest Safety Course held at Easton High School. Looking on, from left, are Kevin Marquis, Easton’s FFA adviser and student Brandon Quimbui.
HAVING HIS TURN in the driver’s seat is Hunter Turner of Easton. He took part in a Harvest Safety Course to help prepare the youth for the dos and don’ts of working in the fields and potato houses.
NICHOLAS CLARK of Easton had a chance to see just what a truck driver can and cannot see during a visit to Flewelling Farms during a Harvest Safety Course offered last week at Easton High School. The presentation was in conjunction with the Maine Potato Board and local growers.
By Hillary Hallett
Special to The Star-Herald
EASTON — The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting cooler; that must mean potato harvest is right around the corner in Aroostook County. Many area youth will be setting foot in a potato field or on a piece of farm equipment for the first time in their lives. As Easton High School’s FFA adviser Kevin Marquis pointed out, “Students today don’t work in a field setting until 15 or 16 years old; we started out at 6. Now it’s a faster-paced environment, and machinery is much larger.”
For these reasons, Easton High School Principal Cameron Adams quickly agreed to offer a harvest safety workshop in conjunction with Maine Potato Board (MPB) and area growers.
George McLaughlin represented the MPB and taught the classroom portion of the Sept. 12 seminar. The students were shown a video produced by the Cooperative Extension that displayed the dos and don’ts, and he also brought some visual aids to demonstrate how quickly and easily things can go wrong.
According to McLaughlin, “Even though the equipment used today is larger and faster, if managed properly, it is actually a safer environment.” Another difference pointed out to students was that the environment around the farm is much busier than in days past; there may be multiple trucks in and out of the yard, unloading simultaneously, forklifts, etc.
Some of the key factors for staying safe, according to the Maine Potato Board, include staying rested and alert, keeping long hair tied back, wearing proper footwear, having good gloves (multiple pairs) and never wearing loose clothing. McLaughlin also encouraged the students to always provide an emergency contact number and to never climb on or off moving equipment.
After the classroom portion of the workshop, the students visited Flewelling Family Farms where owner Brent Flewelling had a potato truck, harvester and bin piler set up for the youth to tour. Participants all had the opportunity to sit in an operator/driver’s seat to see exactly what that person can and cannot see. Many of the youth were surprised by the limited visibility when in the driver’s seat of a potato truck.
Adams and Flewelling hope this will become an annual event, which will include more local farmers. Flewelling made this training mandatory for any students who plan to work on his farm this year.
McLaughlin left the youth with this point, “It’s not hard to work safely; it just takes the right safety attitude. You are responsible for your own safety.”
