Detasseler's father sues over teenager's death

Quad City Times (Illinois) ^ | Aug. 5, 2011 | Brian Wellner

[Western Phil]

The father of a girl electrocuted while detasseling corn in a Whiteside County farm field is suing Monsanto Co. and four other defendants for negligence.

Hannah Kendall, 14, and Jade Garza, 14, both of Sterling, Ill., were killed in the July 25 accident.

snip---

Smith said witnesses told him Jade stepped into a puddle that was electrified, and she and Hannah, who grabbed her, were electrocuted.

The electrical current came from a damaged meter connected to a central pivot irrigation system, Smith said in the lawsuit. He added that the girls did not necessarily come into contact with the irrigator itself.

Hannah and Jade were among 72 people hired by Monsanto to detassel corn in the 160-acre farm outside Tampico, Ill.

snip--

Both Monsanto and the Matthews couple have claimed that lightning struck and damaged the meter box connected to the irrigator and that the damage might have been a factor in the accident. Both Monsanto and the Matthews couple have said the electricity had been shut off to the site before the accident.

Read more: http://www.qctimes.com/news/local/article_b0be64a2-bfa1-11e0-a0a4-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1UU6x2pOc

[Balding_Eagle]

Raising hybrid seed corn takes specialized equipment and I am sure the land owner does very little of the work except maybe for soil preparation and in this case any necessary irrigation.

I'm not sure where you grew up, but the farmer would have every piece of equipment to raise the corn except perhaps the corn picker, which is an ear corn picker. He may contract it out, but there isn't anything 'specialized' to raise and harvest the seed corn.