• Melissa Ploeckelman

  • Education Outreach Specialist - NFMC


    • MCRI - MCRI-National Farm Medicine
    • 1000 North Oak Ave. ML8 Marshfield, WI 54449

Education

2005 to 2010:
BS, Agricultural Education, University of Wisconsin--River Falls, River Falls, WI

Work Experience

2011 to 2017:
Agricultural Instuctor , Colby School District, Colby, WI
2017 to Present:
Outreach Specialist, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, Marshfield, WI

Statement

Melissa Ploeckelman is a powerhouse of passion and purpose, serving as the Outreach Specialist for the National Farm Medicine Center and the National Children’s Center for Rural Agricultural Health and Safety. Before she was spreading the word about farm safety, she spent six years inspiring the next generation as an agriculture instructor, FFA advisor, and Youth Apprenticeship coordinator in the Colby School District. Melissa's roots run deep—literally. Raised on her family’s dairy farm in Stetsonville (where she still jumps in to help), she’s been living and breathing agriculture her whole life. A proud 2010 grad of UW–River Falls with a degree in agricultural education, Melissa’s leadership shone early on when she served as the 2006–2007 State FFA Parliamentarian, was crowned 2008 Marathon County Fairest of the Fairs, and went on to become the 2009 State Fairest of the Fairs. Today, Melissa is on a mission to keep farm families safe, one story at a time. Whether she’s in the classroom, the barn, or the garden, she’s always planting seeds of awareness and cultivating safer futures for rural communities.

Research Interests

Social Media Marketing
Children in Agriculture
Agricultural Health and Safety

Select Publications

  • Swenson A, Ploeckelman M, Salzwedel M, Weichelt B. JA:2021-38. Assessing Facebook Advertising as a Recruitment Strategy for In-Person Workshops. Journal of Agromedicine. 2020 December;25(3):261-262. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/1059924X.2020.1765614.
  • Burke R, Weichelt B, Namkoong K, Ploeckelman M. Recruiting farm parents for a 6-week online child safety survey study using paid Facebook advertisements. Frontiers in Communication. 2023 June 23;8. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2023.1043690.