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:
