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Children and Agriculture: Telling the Story

Journalists study children’s health and safety issues on Kentucky farms
July 13-14, 2007, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, KY

“Children and Agriculture: Telling the Story,” held July 13-14, 2007, near Harrodsburg, Kentucky, gave 10 journalists an inside look at health and safety issues facing children on family farms in the hilly, central part of the state.

The fourth annual workshop was co-hosted by the National Children’s Center and three units of the University of Kentucky -- College of Public Health, College of Communications and Information Studies, and the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.

The workshop focused on safety issues involving tractors and large animals.

“We blended discussion, presentations and field trips in order to generate story ideas, increase the frequency of stories about children in agriculture, and to portray appropriate roles for children,” said Scott Heiberger, workshop director and communications specialist at the National Children’s Center.

Co-facilitating the workshop was Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and longtime political columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Providing context were faculty experts with backgrounds in extension, agricultural safety, health care, emergency response, education, social services and journalism.

The journalists visited a 137-acre hillside farm that produces beef, tobacco and hay; and a third-generation dairy that milks Jersey cattle. Meetings were held at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, a restored historical site founded by the Shaker religious sect in the 19th century.

Journalist participants were: Lydelle Abbott, The Kentucky Standard, Bardstown, KY; Lisa Autry, WKYU-FM, Bowling Green, KY; Ryan Craig, Todd County Standard, Elkton, KY; Pam Golden, Southern Farmer magazine, Crestview, FL; Ben Hess, Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, Washington, D.C.; DeAnna Lasley, The Record, Leitchfield, KY; Megan Parker, The Country Today, Eau Claire, WI; Stephanie Schell, Danville (KY) Advocate-Messenger; Jim Warren, Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader, Lexington, KY; Sam Wyckoff, Harrodsburg (KY) Herald.

Forty journalists (10-per year maximum) have been selected to participate in the workshop. Previous workshops were held at Marshfield, WI; Cooperstown, NY; and Wenatchee, WA.

The National Children’s Center and the Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention – headed by Robert McKnight, MPH, ScD, and part of the University of Kentucky’s College of Public Health – are funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

A site has yet to be named for 2008.

The faculty who attended the workshop:

• Chike Anyaegbunam, PhD, is Associate Professor of Communications in the University of Kentucky College of Communications and Information Studies
• Steven Browning, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, University of Kentucky College of Public Health
• Henry P. Cole, EdD, is Professor of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health in the University of Kentucky College of Public Health, and Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology in the UK College of Education
• Al Cross is Director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues. Prior to joining UK to head up IRJCI, he was the Louisville Courier-Journal's lead political reporter.
• Katie Hancock is Social Services Specialist, Kentucky Cabinet for Health & Family Services.
• Scott Heiberger (workshop director), is Communications Specialist, National Farm Medicine Center/National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, Marshfield, WI.
• Joe Hill, RN, is Program Medical Director, LifeNet Kentucky
• Michael and Debbie Jones are Farmers, Harrodsburg
• Robert H. McKnight, MPH, ScD, is Director of the Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention and Professor of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health in the University of Kentucky College of Public Health.
• Larry R. Piercy, MS, is an Extension Specialist for Agricultural Safety and Health in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering.
• Susan Pollack, MD, is with UK Department of Pediatrics; Kentucky Alliance for Drug Endangered Children; Kentucky Injury Prevention Research Center
• Deborah Reed PhD, RN, C, MSPH, is Associate Professor of Nursing and Associate Professor of Public Health at UK. Dr. Reed teaches courses in rural health care delivery and epidemiology
• Marylee Willoby is Coroner, Grant County