Grain safety presentation Friday at fair

LaMar Grafft, rural health and safety specialist from the University of Iowa, will present an educational program on grain safety Friday during the Greater Jefferson County Fair.

The program will be held at 1 and 6 p.m. at the country school on the fairgrounds.

The program is in memory of John E. Hammes, who died Jan. 5 as the result of a grain bin accident.

Grafft grew up on a farm near Olin. After receiving a master of science degree from Iowa State University, he returned to the family farm in 1975 and farmed for 10 years. In 1985, he worked for Kirkwood Community College developing a curriculum to teach students from Latin America about production agriculture in the United States. The curriculum also helped the students to modify what is done in this country to better suit their own needs in their individual countries.

Grafft worked for seven years as a livestock specialist for the Cooperative Extension Service. He conducted workshops, held training sessions and advised farmers on all aspects of livestock production in a 12 county area in eastern Iowa.

Grafft has been a part time paramedic and flight paramedic in Cedar Rapids since 1986. He has been a farm rescue instructor since 1991 and has conducted dozens of farm rescue training programs for fire fighters and EMT?s.

Grafft is currently employed as a rural health and safety specialist at the University of Iowa. He has been involved in accident investigations of unintentional occupational deaths in Iowa. He has conducted research in child safety on farms, tractor rollover protection and stress management for farm families. He has written monthly columns for the Cedar Rapids Gazette and the Iowa Farmer Today publication on farm safety issues.

Grafft has taught graduate level classes in both occupational safety and agricultural safety for several years for the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa.

Questions about the presentation may be sent to mandy.c.hammes@monsanto.com.