Your Reading List

New mobile unit will take farm safety education on the road

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Published: December 15, 2016

Rendering of the proposed Rural and Farm Safety Mobile Unit.

Thanks to a $650,000 donation from Agrium, Agriculture for Life is undertaking its largest safety initiative — the Rural and Farm Safety Mobile Unit.

The unit is a trailer with educational displays, and will be taken to rural schools, communities, fairs, and other events around North America to educate, encourage and promote farm safety to students and farm families. It will be used to highlight many hazards faced on the farm such as large equipment, water, grain, overhead power lines and underground infrastructure. It will also provide educational information around mitigating these and other risks.

Read Also

Luke Wonneck, a coordinating committee member with the Treaty Land Sharing Network, took Elder Alsena White and Lana Whiskeyjack, a nehiyawak (Cree) from Saddle Lake First Nation, accessing the land where Whiskeyjack picked berries with her grandmother over 50 years ago. Whiskeyjack said the experience made her very emotional.

Fostering reconciliation one farm at a time

The Treaty Land Sharing Network has grown slowly throughout its first year in Alberta, but landowners are starting to get on board.

The unit will be designed so its content can be tailored to various audiences and expanded as needed. Digital applications will be utilized and allow for content sharing with like-minded organizations around the world.

“Farm safety is a priority for us at Agrium, and we are proud to work with Ag for Life and provide $650,000 capital funding for the development of this Mobile Safety Unit,” said Leslie O’Donoghue, Agrium’s executive vice-president for corporate development and strategy and chief risk officer.

The goal is to have the mobile safety unit on the road and attending events by September 2017. Ag for Life is currently seeking matched operational funding from additional sponsors in order to maximize program reach.

explore

Stories from our other publications