We’re not so good at reporting farm safety messages

In keeping with the public’s growing interest in where food comes from and how it’s produced, maybe people also want to know something about farm safety lately…like, how farmers stay safe when they’re so often in harm’s way.

If you think it seems all you read about are farm tragedies, you’re right. Research out of the University of Alberta, using a media database maintained by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA), showed that of the more than 850 publicly available news media reports of agricultural injuries and fatalities in Canada from 2010-17, only a little more than six per cent included a prevention message.

The study, released a little earlier this year then brought to light just last week by the University of Illinois Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, covered it all: fatal and non-fatal injuries, age and gender of those affected, urban and rural media, French and English, as well as whether they involved machinery.

“Prevention messages were more likely to occur when at least one child or female victim was involved in an event,” the study’s authors say. “Prevention messages are rare in media reporting of farm injuries and are decreasing over time. Improved reporting is needed to aid in farm injury prevention.”

It’s great to have the spotlight fall on this study this week, Canadian Agricultural Safety Week. It was launched Monday with a $1.4-million, two-year federal grant to CASA. A part of that money is supposed to go to awareness-raising activities. As well, it will be used for community engagement, and for developing and maintaining safety resources and tools to address existing and emerging safety needs provincially and nationally.

Good mental health is an important part of farm safety. “Farmers face a wide range of occupational stressors,” says University of Guelph Prof. Andria Jones-Bitton, a leading farm mental health researcher. “Some of those stressors have been around for centuries, like weather, a demanding workload and finances. The research we’ve done has also shown there are newer stresses.”

Indeed, she and her collaborator Dr. Briana Hagen have found the vilification of farming and agriculture has a big impact on farmers, as is what Jones-Bitton describes as “intense pressure from wanting to preserve the legacy of a family farm.”

Such distractions can make farming tougher than it already is. And being distracted around powerful machinery and livestock is not a recipe for safe farming.

Here’s why all this matters. In an average year, agricultural fatalities account for the deaths of more than 100 adults and children in Canada. We live in an agriculturally intensive area, and unfortunately you may know someone who has been a casualty. In our area, where unintended occupational deaths are headlines not footnotes, farm safety really does affect everyone.

So back to the media not reporting on prevention. Indeed, it’s unlikely that in a story about a tragedy, a reporter would include what could seem like a gratuitous or unfeeling sentence about how it could have been prevented. That hesitancy is likely contributing to the Alberta research team’s woefully low prevention-reporting numbers.

And some prevention messages of a technical measure are better left to farm media, where you’d expect to find more specific farm news.

But that doesn’t exonerate anyone. I have three grandkids who are farm kids, and I know my daughter and son-in-law read their local weekly paper. That makes it a good venue for farm safety messages, perhaps with a less technical bent, like farm-related drive-safe tips.

In fact, we can all use such tips year-round, but especially in the spring when planting season arrives and machinery, producers and workers are seen more often on the roads.

And with that, I guess I just wrote about prevention.

Let’s keep farm safety in mind this week and beyond – respect slow-moving vehicles, drive cautiously up a lane for on-farm sales, and remember livestock are not pets.

THE REGION’S RURAL TOWNSHIPS ALL in the same boat due to the pandemic, the four municipalities have been working together under the umbrella of the Rural Recovery Coordinating Committee (RRCC). A year into the crisis, the group continues to meet regularly to draw attention to the difficulties the townships face.

“The way things started off initially was to support one another, with best practices and sharing knowledge and expertise around the implementation of policies, new procedures, new protocols, and issues that were arising in the community,” said David Brenneman, chief administrative officer for

Woolwich Township.

Initially a collaboration between Woolwich, Wellesley, Wilmot and North Dumfries, the townships soon enlisted the help of rural community support agencies to help build a connection to resources and add additional voices to the conversation. Today, the board includes the likes of Woolwich Community Services, Wilmot Family Resource Centre and Community Care Concepts.

Following initial meetings that were a platform to find common ground on protocols and procedures related to the pandemic, the focus shifted to two areas: getting information out to the community and the longer-term issue of affordable housing.

“We looked at the possibility of whether it would be possible for the four townships to come together and collaborate on affordable housing projects, but it soon became obvious that there were a lot of nuances to every township in terms of land that might be available and what their priority that might be relative to affordable housing,” said Brenneman, adding that conversations around seniors housing are also taking place.

In relation to the pandemic itself, the goal was to get information out to the public about the rapidly changing situation and evolving public health measures.

“The other big priority that we’ve stayed focused in on is making sure that we’re getting good strong information out to the community – all of the townships and the residents – about what sort of workshops are available through the counselling support agencies in terms of helping manage through the pandemic, people’s mental health, and their emotional wellbeing.”

Getting the word out isn’t always easy in the rural areas, particularly among Old Order Mennonite groups, Brenneman noted. For that reason, the committee enlisted the help of Sarah Farwell, the COVID-19 response lead for Ontario Health in Waterloo and Wellington counties, “when we were trying to ensure appropriate COVID testing, or even messaging was getting out to the wider community, especially the old order and the conservative Mennonite group.”

In addition to being a voice for rural residents, the committee also hosted a number of virtual activities online to keep people engaged with one another, which relates to the team’s unofficial motto, ‘we’re stronger together.’

“[It’s] always been part of the culture in rural areas. A lot of organizations are small, so you need to leverage the combined sum total of staffing and financial resources. And, when you do that, you’re able to make a bigger difference for the community,” said Brenneman.

The RRCC has plans of meeting regularly until the pandemic is over and to continue on afterwards.

“We’re going to continue to collaborate. And we’re going to continue to focus in on community priorities that are meant to make a positive difference, really, in the lives of our residents.”