The culture of Canadian farms is one of risk balanced with reward and that can extend to children on the farm, sometimes with tragic results.

Risk and reward

Are injury rates in Canadian agriculture driven by farm culture?

Risk taking starts young on the Canadian farm and it persists for a lifetime. Farmers know why they take risks, too; risk taking can be rewarding. It’s the name of the game in agriculture. But risk taking in the farm workplace also injures and kills farmers, their family members and workers, too. Compared with other

Few farmers have taken the time to write a formal safety plan, a recent FCC study found.

Conference digs into safety, farm culture on Canadian farms

"People say, ‘I do things safely,’ but don’t actually do things to support that. We’ve got to figure that out.”

Most farmers believe they do their jobs safely, and most also say they have unwritten rules on their farm to do the work without anyone getting hurt. But Canadian farmers also say an injury, or a near miss, hasn’t made them change their work behaviour, nor has it spurred them to put a safety plan


Grain bins can be a dangerous location and safety precautions are very important.

Don’t be complacent around grain storage hazards

The list of dangers is very long, and it includes people who aren’t properly trained

Glacier FarmMedia – There’s a plethora of hazards associated with storing and moving grain, and farm safety expert Robert Gobeil had a long list during a recent online presentation. Those entering a storage area containing a grain mass can be sucked under flowing grain, trapped by avalanching grain, and fall through crusted or bridged grain

In recent weeks the Oakland-Wawanesa Fire Department has been called to two fires started by haying equipment.

Extreme caution urged while haying, harvesting tinder-dry fields

The RM of Oakland-Wawanesa reported two fires caused by farm equipment in two days

A rural fire department is urging farmers to be extra cautious this year after haying equipment caused two fires in its area. “We encourage farmers to carry either a jug of water or an extinguisher with them so at least they can slow it down until we get there,” said Dennis Gullet, fire chief in

File photo of apple picking in a Canadian orchard. (Martinedoucet/E+/Getty Images)

New B.C. youth work rules: Heavy lifting, ag chem handling out

New standards also lift province's 'general working age' to 16

“Light farm and yard work” are deemed appropriate for workers at ages 14 and 15 under new employment standards taking effect in British Columbia this fall. The province on Wednesday announced changes to its Employment Standards Act, which have been through the development and consultation stages since 2019, have now been finalized and will take


Safety Scouts kits include a kid-sized safety vest and membership certificate.

‘Safety Scouts’ kits facilitate farm safety talks with kids

Kits and other resources are available for free on CASA’s website

BASF and CASA hope interactive ‘Safety Scouts’ kits will give farm families fun and interactive ways to talk about safety. “A lot of the issues along with safety is just having the conversations, right?” said Robin Anderson, communications co-ordinator at the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA). “And having the awareness and keeping, integrating safety as

A recent report showed children aged one to four have the highest rate of fatalities.

Virtual Farm Safety Days allow broader reach during pandemic

Organizers optimistic 2022 will see a return to in-person programming

Glacier FarmMedia – The traditional Safety Farm Days are missing from most farm communities’ calendars this year. A valued tradition, Progressive Agriculture Foundation (PAF) Farm Safety Days, in partnership with the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA), have helped hundreds of thousands of rural and farm kids learn how to stay safe while working and playing

Smoke clouds the horizon near Carberry April 1 thanks to one of the province’s list of recent grassfires.

Farmers trade caps for firefighter hats

With much of Manitoba tinder dry, farmers have both a role in helping their local fire departments, and avoiding a fire on their own operations

When the Carberry North Cypress-Langford Fire and Rescue got the call about a fast-moving grassfire the afternoon of April 1, they immediately got on the phone. They called in help. Fire departments from Shilo, Glenboro, Wawanesa and Elton came out to contain the blaze—whipped by wind gusts up to 57 kilometres an hour to claim


A home narrowly escapes a grassfire near Carberry April 1.

Farm checklist against fire

From making a fire plan to proper disposal of oily rags, KAP’s Manitoba Farm Safety Program has some tips on what producers can do to limit fire risk

The Manitoba Farm Safety Program is reminding farmers of their own on-farm fire risk management. Manitoba’s dry conditions have led to a rash of grassfires since the start of April, including one that menaced a housing sub-division near Carberry and several fires in the southeast and central Manitoba. Dry conditions have also led to widespread

“Make sure you understand that people are watching you. It matters what you do. It matters a lot.” – Alan Quilley.

Take farm safety personally and make a commitment, says expert

Don’t practise on-farm safety because the government says so — do it for yourself and your family

Glacier FarmMedia – Working safely on the farm is like getting ready to jump out of an airplane. You can’t afford to pack your parachute right only some of the time — you have to do it right every time. That line of thinking is the same producers should be using in their safety procedures