Students learn about staying safe on the farm at a special event hosted by the Battlefords Agricultural Society Friday. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Agriculture safety

Kids get first-hand learning session in farm safety at ag society event

May 12, 2019 | 11:50 AM

A tractor, a backhoe, an ATV, railroad signs, a grain display and more than 400 kids filled the Agriplex Friday for the annual farm safety day education event hosted by the Battlefords Agricultural Society.

The event was part of the Progressive Agriculture Safety Days program held across North America each year to educate young people about staying safe, to prevent farm-related accidents and injuries.

Tanya Beland, Battlefords Agricultural Society board of directors president and assistant coordinator for the local safety day event, said many elementary school students in the Battlefords and surrounding communities attended about a dozen different safety training stations throughout the day, learning about everything from being safe around farming equipment, watching for signs near railroads, and looking at labelling on containers with chemicals, to name a few. They also learned about the importance of proper hand hygiene.

A number of partners such as the RCMP also led some education sessions at the event.

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Matthew Youst learns about having a balanced diet during an event about health and safety. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Lawrence School Grade 3 student Matthew Youst picked up some tips about nutrition during one of the education sessions he attended.

“You’ve got to have a healthy diet so you can be strong,” he said, adding he also discovered what foods can be grown in Saskatchewan.

In another session about tractor safety Youst learned how important it is for people to be safe around agricultural machinery.

“You have to make eye contact with the driver or else you could get run over,” said the youngster who also hopes to have his own farm one day.

Lawrence School teacher Brandi Gartner said farm safety affects everyone.

“Some kids maybe have never been on a farm before,” she said. “If you grow up on a farm you learn those things when you are young. But, I’m sure at least once in your life you will be on someone’s farm, and you should know how to be safe and not have any accidents.”

École Monseigneur Blaise Morand (EMBM) teacher Laura Wells echoed Gartner’s sentiments, saying farm safety is essential for everyone to know.

“There is often a big disconnect between the city and rural life,” she said. “I think, the more they know the better off everyone is.”

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW