FRESH: Interactive area to debut at Farm Tech Days

STRATFORD – An interactive area called “FRESH: Farm Rescue Education, Safety, and Health” will debut at the 2026 Wisconsin Farm Technology Days, offering hands-on learning and resources for farm families.
This initiative is a collaboration between Wisconsin Farm Technology Days, National Farm Medicine Center, National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, Pittsville Fire Department and Marshfield Clinic.
The FRESH area will be located at the corner of First and Central on the Farm Tech Days campus and will feature four key components:
Safe Play Area
A dedicated children’s space built using guidance from Cultivate Safety, showcasing best practices for safe play areas on farms. The space will include a playground, sandbox, games, and picnic seating for families. A physical barrier will demonstrate how to separate play areas from farm hazards. Special programming includes Story Time on Tuesday, July 14.

Tot Zone
A family-friendly space designed for toddlers and caregivers, including a private nursing area, diaper-changing stations, and essential supplies.
Health & Safety Education Area
Experts in agricultural safety and rural health will share resources and research, including representatives from Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, Progressive Agriculture Safety Foundation, AgriSafe Network, AgrAbility and Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association (WATA).
Youth Agriculture Adventure Passport
Youth can participate in an agriculture passport activity and earn prizes for engaging with safety education.
“Providing hands-on safety education helps protect our children and strengthens farm communities,” said Brian Kuhl, president/CEO, Progressive Agriculture Foundation.
FRESH Demonstration Area
Live demonstrations will include tractor rollover prevention and rescue, grain bin rescue, stop the bleed training, and confined space and manure pit rescue (Wednesday, July 15 only).
“These incidents are low frequency but high risk,” said Pittsville Fire Chief Jerry Minor. “If we can prevent them, we can protect entire communities.”
Minor has been focused on prevention for forty-five years.
“Dean Stueland and I got together in 1981, and we were both working out of the ER in Marshfield, and he said one night, ‘How much training is out there for fire and EMS as it relates to incidents on farms?’ And the answer was, ‘None. Maybe two pages in a textbook. That’s it,’” Minor recalled. “It all started with that one night, and before Dean passed away we had a discussion and we made promises to each other that we’re going to keep this going, and that’s kind of been the driving force for me.
“I like to surround myself with people that like to do what we do,” Minor continued. “It’s not just Pittsville. I have a core group in Wood County of ten other agencies that are part of our overall farm response incident team that help teach, help do prevention, everything like that.”
In the late 1970s and early 80s, Minor said tractor rollovers were causing the biggest number of problems on farms.
“From there, we went to harvesting equipment, because the fall is the primary time when we see those numbers climb,” Minor shared. “So, entrapment and prevention. Why do these accidents happen? How can we prevent them? There has to be a prevention piece with fire departments, no matter what we’re doing.”
The 2026 Farm Technology Days event takes place at Redetzke’s No Joke Dairy, 216601 Wescott Ave., Stratford, July 14-16.
For more information, visit www.wifarmtechdays.org.