Pioneer of farm safety. Instigator of farmer mental health and suicide awareness. Volunteer firefighter. Farmer. Mentor. Father. Grandfather. Friend.
These are just a few of the many titles that Dale Dobson held throughout his 66 years of life, but none will ever fully capture the legacy he leaves behind – one measured not by the positions he held, but by the countless lives he touched and his unwavering willingness to help others.
Born on May 17, 1960, Dobson was raised on a farm in LaRue County, with commodities including grain, hogs, dairy and tobacco. He joined the family business of full-time farming following his graduation from LaRue County High School in 1978. He entered the world of public service and safety as a volunteer firefighter in 1989, determined to help his community.
It was during this time that Dobson began to see accidents, injuries and deaths from a different point of view – not as events he was powerless to, but rather as circumstances that could be reduced, mitigated or even eliminated with proper training. He was especially invested in advancing farm safety initiatives for the industry that he loved so dearly.
It all started with grain rescue
Flowing grain behaves like quicksand – it can suck an adult knee-deep, where they cannot free themselves, in less than five seconds, and can completely submerge them with the risk of death by suffocation in less than a minute. The force required to remove a person buried to the waist can take anywhere from 400 to 600 pounds, while the force to remove someone completely engulfed can exceed 2,000 pounds. Historically, most grain entrapment incidents result in death.
Dobson took on the challenge of grain rescue and reducing its fatality rate in the early 1990s. In 1994, the first rescue sleeve – which blocks flowing grain, relieving pressure on the trapped person’s chest and allowing them room to breathe while grain is scooped out – was made on his LaRue County farm using cut-up barrels and plastic sheets. This prototype was eventually patented as a Turtle Tube and has been purchased by and distributed to numerous fire and rescue teams nationwide.
Another safety first also occurred on Dobson’s farm in 1994, when he hosted 75 people for Kentucky’s first statewide farm safety symposium. The next year, it tripled in popularity with 225 attendees. The program has continued to grow ever since, celebrating its 33rd meeting in 2026.
Dobson was hired by Agriculture Commissioner Billy Ray Smith in 1998 to build the Department’s Farm Safety Program from the ground up. By that time, he had already gained a reputation for uniting emergency services and the farm community to teach farm safety to farmers – and farm rescue skills to emergency responders – across the state. With his leadership, the program became the hub of a shared vision to reduce farm accidents through education, training and awareness. Dobson is credited with running and developing the national model of farm safety programs in the United States.
One of the most noteworthy teachings developed by Dobson is Kentucky’s grain bin rescue training, which teaches farmers and first responders how to handle grain entrapment emergencies safely using specialized tools such as the previously-mentioned Turtle Tube. The training is taught across the Commonwealth and in other states; in 2025, five Kentucky farmers survived grain bin entrapments because first responders had received the training Dobson helped create.
Another safety initiative cultivated by KDA under Dobson’s leadership is the importance of a Rollover Protective Structure (ROPS) – a specialized safety system such as a roll bar, roll cage or reinforced cab designed to protect tractor operators from being crushed if the equipment rolls over. With a ROPS and seatbelt, those involved in a tractor rollover have a 99% likelihood of survival, while accidents without the safety measure only have a survival rate of 3%.
Dobson is known nationwide for the department’s Rollover Tractor Simulator. The John Deere 4105 compact tractor is bolted to a trailer and turns over with the push of a button with a dummy in the seat; the fate of the dummy demonstrates the need for a rollover protective structure.
Over the past three decades, Dobson and his team carried their message of farm safety throughout Kentucky, setting up at schools, farms, fire departments and anywhere else that would bring them closer to their goal of serving farmers and emergency personnel.
Raising Hope
Suicide is a tragedy – one that Dobson became all too familiar with after the sudden loss of his best friend in 2017. Determined to ensure that no one else – including the farmers and first responders he’d worked so closely with for so long – followed this path, he began considering ways to let individuals know that they are not along; that their contributions are valued, they are cared about and that they have a safe place to talk and share their feelings if they become overwhelmed by the challenges of life.
This led to the establishment of the Raising Hope program in 2020. One avenue that the program achieves its purpose is through the challenge coin initiative that emphasizes appreciation of one another.
The exchange begins with a conversation explaining what challenge coins are and their intended message:
“Will you shake my hand and take my challenge?” Dobson would ask. “Do you promise that, if you ever feel down or you’re thinking about suicide, that you will call the number [on the coin], call me, call somebody and let them know that you’re not feeling good? You give me your word; I’ll give you my coin and that’s the value of a handshake.”
The LaRue County Farm Bureau was the challenge the first county to order the coins, but other counties quickly begun following suit. Dobson also expanded the initiative into numerous FFA chapters, including at LaRue County High School.
Although the initiative was originally focused on suicide prevention, Dobson soon learned that talking about the topic did not open the doors to the conversations that needed to be had. This led to the expansion of the program from a solely mental-health focus to one surrounding whole wellness. This was accomplished with a coalition of agriculture, education and healthcare institutions, which began offering preventive care services, such as blood pressure checks and cholesterol, triglyceride, and glucose screenings, as well as other health resources.
During his career, Dobson personally distributed 3,369 challenge coins as symbols of hope, appreciation and support. His efforts contributed to 21 documented suicide interventions, while 32 additional individuals shared that Raising Hope had significantly improved their mental or physical health or had “saved their life.” Through education, outreach, and trusted relationships, his leadership also helped achieved an estimated 75% reduction in Kentucky’s annual average farmer suicides, from approximately 50 per year to 12, leaving a lasting impact on countless farm families.
Dobson remembered
Back in 2017 on a chilly spring day, New York film producer Samuel Goldberg, visited Ryan Bivens in Hodgenville to scout locations and rally support for the grain entrapment film, SILO. Bivens knew Dobson would need to be involved. Goldberg spoke at Dobson’s funeral and said it was “an unlikely friendship.” The rough-around-the-edges country boy and fancy city kid, became more than a friend, they became brothers.
“There was fierce passion. A little bit of cussing. Most of all, there was authenticity, kindness, truth and honesty. I knew from our first phone call that my life had changed forever, and for the better,” Goldberg said.
Dobson moved mountains to make sure the movie was made. “Without Dale, SILO and its impact on farm safety, doesn’t exist. Dale looked me in the eye and made me promise to make our next project about famer mental health. I took that promise to heart….that was the power of this man. Dale wasn’t someone who toiled in the uncertainty of failure. He was someone who bravely and boldly found solutions, even to the toughest problems; and he had enough faith in humanity to keep trying, despite the obstacles in his way.” Goldberg shared that just a couple months ago, Dobson said, “Sam, SILO done changed my world”, and I said back to him, “Dale, you have changed the world.”
Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Shell spoke to Dobson’s passion and drive during the funeral service on Saturday. “He created something out of nothing in this state, on his own.” Dobson was the Director of Farm Safety and Rural Health for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. “Over nearly a three decade stint, he has built a program that is widely regarded as a national program in agriculture safety and rural health. His work has been published twice now in scientific journals.”
Shell continued by saying, “The lives that he’s changed, the lives that he saved, the impact that he has made, is eternal. I will never forget it,” said Shell. “I will always miss him. He made me think. Dale Dobson is the longest serving and most influential farm safety leader in Kentucky.”
“There’s not many men out there who hold a candle to Dale,” Miss Kentucky 2021 Haley Farmer said during Dobson’s funeral service. Dobson asked her to sing Amazing Grace at a safety training. “I didn’t know it, but agreeing to that performance would cement our friendship forever. After it was done, he told me that one day, he’d ask me to sing it for his funeral; I just didn’t know it would be so soon.”
“On the surface, he’s a rugged country boy from Hodgenville. Under that exterior, you’ll find the biggest heart of gold you ever did see. This was a man that I had the privilege of working with during my time as Miss Kentucky 2021. I knew from the moment he said hello that we’d be fast friends. Dale threw me into every rescue situation he could think. One of the last few times I saw my friend was on the day of my wedding. After the ceremony ended he congratulated me and Andrew and wished us well. The rain had held off just enough for dinner to start inside the barn, and Dale told me that, “the best things in life won’t grow without a little bit of rain.”
Just as he was being loaded onto the 1934 Ford pumper truck, the rain began to fall, as those in attendance gathered to say their final good byes. In the words of the man himself, ‘On that part right there…. Life is good. You are appreciated.”
