By Angela Brown

Kids farm safety education returning this fall

Mar 2, 2022 | 5:37 PM

THE BATTLEFORDS, Sask. — Battlefords and area youth will soon have an opportunity to get a first-hand education on following safe practices on the farmyard.

The Progressive Agriculture Safety Days program event, hosted by the Battlefords Agricultural Society, will return this fall offering instruction on a wide variety of issues.

Safety Day coordinator Rhonda Erickson said with the province’s COVID-19 restrictions lifted the event will be able to proceed again this year.

“We are going to try for the fall when we can actually have it in person…,” she said. “We want kids to be really engaged and learn. With restrictions lifting that means we will be able to go forward.”

The event is usually held in May each year at the Battlefords AgriVilla and AgriPlex facility, but was postponed in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 protocols. Since the province just opened up this month there wasn’t time to book the event for this spring. So sometime likely around October seemed the best opportunity to bring back the program for 2022.

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The event will include about 20 different stations where small groups of kids visit to hear from experts about a specific topic.

“We have great support from the [local] community and surrounding communities,” Erickson said. “Businesses and private companies will provide presenters for the day.”

Students from schools throughout the area will be invited to attend, with a focus on youth in Grade 1 to about Grades 6 or 7. On average about 400 kids are expected to attend for the day.

The event is 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.

Erickson said the program is focused on agricultural safety but it is very engaging for both city as well as rural kids.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” she said. “You have railroad safety, health safety, which could be urban or rural. We have quad safety, snowmobile [safety]. We like to change it so they are not learning the same thing every year.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow