Ohio farmer survives burial by soybeans in bin

70-year-old admits he was careless, then lucky

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The sea of shifting soybean kernels had risen to Jay Butterfield’s knees inside a tall grain bin on his Ohio farm.

“I knew I was in trouble then,” the 70-year-old said. “Because it’s just like being in quicksand or cement.”

Sometimes a job becomes so routine and familiar that carelessness creeps in. That’s the way it happened on Butterfield’s 116-acre farm north of Cincinnati.

Soybeans that came out of the field last November were damp, didn’t dry well and weren’t flowing smoothly out of an opening in the bottom of the 30-foot-tall corrugated steel bin.

Just before 4 p.m. May 30, Butterfield scaled the ladder on the outside and climbed down into the shadowy bin with a length of plastic pipe to break up the damp clumps. He wore no harness or safety equipment. He had done the same thing the previous day and on other days.

“You think it’s not going to happen to you,” the second-generation farmer said.

Butterfield climbed down and stood on top of the hard legumes, poking and breaking them up to aid the flow. He was near the bottom of the bin when he got stuck. Then the crop that was piled up around the sides started to shift.

“The beans went out from under my feet and sucked them down that fast,” he said. “Then they started rolling on top of me.”

He yelled to brother-in-law Eddie Demaree for help. By the time the first rescue squad arrived, Butterfield was buried up to his chest with his arms in the air.

Within about 10 minutes, he was covered up to his chin.

Despite the warnings, a couple dozen people die from being buried in grain every year in the U.S. Butterfield’s friend Charlie Groh died in a corn bin in 2013 in a neighboring township. Butterfield acknowledges he should have known better.

“Grain entrapment” happens so often that fire departments in farming regions undergo special training and acquire equipment just for these situations. One such crew, comprising members of the Reily Township volunteer fire department, was near Butterfield’s farm.

“We got them on the road immediately,” said Steve Miller, the Ross Township fire chief who led the rescue.

A rope was dropped that then was tied around Butterfield’s arms. He was given oxygen.

Reily Township brought panels to create a tube inside the bin. Rescuers lowered the panels inside and assembled the tube around Butterfield to keep him from being squeezed or buried any further by the beans.

“I knew as soon as I got that wall around me that I had a chance,” Butterfield said. “For two hours I thought I was a dead man.”

At about 7 p.m., three hours after the effort began, Butterfield was brought out through one of the holes in the side.

That evening some of his friends worked until midnight shoveling his soybeans into a truck to get them to market.

“I’m a very lucky man,” he said.

Ross Township Fire Department Ross Township Fire Department rescue personnel shovel soybeans out of the bottom of a bin May 30 to rescue farmer Jay Butterfield, who was buried up to his chin inside.