Emergency responders in Ionia, Barry and Kent counties are better prepared to manage a litany of rescue situations they could encounter on a farm thanks to a Farm Safety Training Event held March 4-5, 2016, by the area's trio of county Farm Bureaus. County Farm Bureau leaders hired Emergency Services Rescue Training, Inc. to teach local firefighters, law enforcement and EMS personnel on how to respond to a variety of hazards that are responsible for the majority of farm injuries and fatalities, such as tractor rollovers and grain entrapments. The group even left their gathering place at GeenMark Equipment in Hastings to tour Swisslane Dairy Farm in Alto, where they could better see situations that would involve handling and rescuing farm animals, plus storage facilities for farm inputs like fuel and fertilizer, and more. For Day 2, the focus turned to family safety on the farm, covering topics such as proper handling of fire extinguishers and ATVs. County Farm Bureau leaders say safety training like this is critical because emergency responders new to the job often haven't been exposed to modern farming practices. The speed of advancements in agricultural technology also demands that experienced rescuers continue their training.