Corn-pit play sends wrong message

Janelle Atyeo
Sep 20, 2025
Sep 20, 2025

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Fall is a time when many city folk start thinking about the farm. Apple-picking excursions, corn mazes and pumpkin patches are popular destinations for families and school field trips.

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Farm Safety corn pit 3.jpg — Submitted image from National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety

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Rescue workers remove corn from a grain tube used in grain-bin entrapments. A program to distribute rescue tubes and train firefighters on their uses has rescued 15 people since it began in 2014, including one in Hutchinson, Minn., this summer.
Submitted photo

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sandbox large w lattice.jpg — Sand boxes with toy tractors and scoops can be an alternative to corn play pits at pumpkin patches, apple orchards and other agritourism venues.
Submitted photo

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Raised in small town South Dakota, Janelle is enjoying her time as editor of Tri-State Neighbor and Midwest Messenger while raising kids, chickens and no till vegetables in central Sioux Falls. Reach her at janelle.atyeo@lee.net.