Farming can kill you.

By Gerald Pilger

In fact, farming is more dangerous than fighting. In 15 months, more Canadian farmers die in farm accidents than the number of Canadian soldiers killed in eight years of fighting in Afghanistan!

The death of 42-year-old Colonel Geoff Parker on May 18 was headline news across the country. An explosive-laden vehicle drove into Parker’s convoy during morning rush hour outside Kabul, Afghanistan. The father of two was the 145th Canadian soldier to die since Canada sent combat troops to Afghanistan in 2002.

Just a couple days before Parker’s death, a 45-year-old Ontario farmer, Stanley De Jong, father of four, died on his farm north of Brantford after being pinned under the front end loader of his tractor.

Parker was honoured and remembered with a repatriation ceremony. Sadly, De Jong’s passing was largely ignored. The death of a farmer is not national news. In fact, it is barely news at all. After all, more than 100 farmers are killed each year in Canada. In 15 months, more farmers die in accidents than the number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan in eight years of war.

Unfortunately, government, media, the public and farmers still portray farms as peaceful and idyllic havens rather than places where danger lurks around every corner. Sure, we talk about farm safety. In fact, farm safety is probably the most written-about subject in the farm media. Literally hundreds of websites are devoted to farm safety. And a host of organizations, associations and government bodies focus on farm safety. Yet the tragedies continue.

Looking at just fatalities, agriculture is one of the most dangerous jobs in both Canada and the U.S. In 2007, the occupation "farmers and ranchers" was number six in the list of most dangerous jobs in the U.S. with 37.1 deaths per 100,000 farm workers; up from 28 per 100,000 in 2002. "Farmers and ranchers" climbed to the third most dangerous job in the U.S. in 2008 with 40 deaths per 100,000 workers. In spite of increased awareness of farm safety issues, the death rate continues to climb.

When injuries are added in, the safety picture for agriculture is even more bleak. The farm safety page of the U.S. Department of Labor website says: "Every year, thousands of farm workers are injured and hundreds more die in farming accidents. According to the U.S. National Safety Council, agriculture is the most hazardous industry in the nation."

Even more alarming, each year 100 children will die on U.S. farms and more than 100,000 children will be injured, according to the Pennsylvania Farm Accident Law Firm, Munley, Munley, and Cartwright.

Everyone’s at risk
Instead of addressing the root causes of farm accidents, we simply look for excuses. Too young, too old and too ignorant are often listed as the reasons why so many are killed or hurt in agriculture. And while these factors certainly play a role in some accidents, intelligent, healthy, middle-aged people are also victims of farm accidents.

Ron Raikes, 66, was a Nebraska state senator. He grew up on a farm, had a degree in agricultural operations and a masters in ag economics. He’d operated his own farm since 1978. In spite of all his education and experience, on September 6, 2009 he was caught in a hay mower/conditioner he was operating and killed instantly.

In April, 2009, 54-year-old Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, who captivated the baseball world as a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers in the 1970s, was killed on his farm while working on his truck.

Closer to home, Alberta Agriculture provides details of all Alberta farm fatalities on its website. Date, age, location and cause of death are listed. Reviewing the list is eye opening. You see that farm accidents are not restricted to a specific age, time of year, or cause. The website confirms the potential for injury or death in every aspect of a farm operation.

Forgotten victims of farm accidents
While the primary focus of a death or injury due to a farm accident is on the victim, the impact on the farm family is often even more traumatic. Collapse of the farm business, loss of livelihood, feelings of guilt and lack of support for the grieving family are common when an accident happens on a family farm.

In 1991, 30-year-old Ron Minnie of Waskada, MB, was helping his father unplug a combine header. According to his wife Dawn, Ron was very careful and safety conscious around equipment. The tractor on the pull-type combine was shut down while Ron unplugged the header. When the plug was cleared Ron had his father restart the equipment and engage the pickup. Unfortunately, the pickup unexpectedly rose on startup, grabbing Ron and throwing him into the feederhouse.

The equipment shut down quickly and Ron’s injuries appeared relatively minor. In fact, he was able to make it on his own to the local hospital, 18 miles away. At the time, the doctor said Ron had a dislocated shoulder. Unfortunately, seven years later it was discovered that he had actually broken his neck resulting in spinal, nerve and muscle damage. Today, after 43 shoulder dislocations and four surgeries, he has lost the use of his upper arm, is unable to farm and is in constant pain.

"Ron’s accident turned our lives upside down," said Dawn. "We tried to change the way we farmed. The cattle were sold because Ron could not handle them. We tried straight grain farming but found most farm equipment is not ergonomically designed for a person with Ron’s injuries. And as time went on, the equipment vibration was more than he could stand.

"Since he did not actually lose a limb, people did not see him as disabled, yet he could not work at all. There was no compensation available for a farm accident in 1991. And like most farmers then, we did not carry insurance for such an accident. Only in the past few years has Ron even been able to receive a CPP disability pension.

"We had to make a major role reversal. I had to go to work full time to support the family. The accident gave our children a very bad taste for farming, especially our oldest daughter who came to hate farm life.

"The Manitoba chapter of Farmers with Disabilities turned our lives around. Going to the meetings helped Ron struggle through his depression and loss of self worth. It gave him a purpose to get up each day." recalls Dawn. "For me it was a support group in itself, and seeing others in the same situation gave me strength. The change in our oldest daughter was also pronounced. She went from hating farm life to now being involved in her own farm operation."

A mother’s story
In the mid 1980s Marilyn Adams of Earlham, Iowa, experienced every mother’s worst nightmare. On the first day of harvest on her and husband Darrell’s farm, their 11-year-old son suffocated when he became trapped in flowing grain being unloaded from a gravity wagon.

"Keith’s death divided our family," said Marilyn. "We stopped talking. Darrell buried himself in farm work, our daughters cried themselves to sleep, I was too exhausted to sleep and ached from emptiness. I was angry with Darrell because he was not grieving in the same way I was. It got to the point I simply laid on the bed sobbing; I did not want life to go on," she recalled.

"The turning point came when our daughter Kelly asked me to help her with a school project," Marilyn continued. "She wanted to show her class how Keith died that day in the gravity flow wagon. Together we started to research equipment and were amazed to find there were no warnings of the dangers of flowing grain posted on the equipment. Darrell also made a model of a wagon to show how quickly a toy figure became trapped in flowing grain. And suddenly we were a family again."

The power of that presentation inspired Kelly to devote her life to educating children about farm safety. In 1987 she founded Farm Safety 4 Just Kids. Today that organization has over 130 chapters in the U.S. and Canada and more than 3,000 volunteers deliver the Farm Safety 4 Just Kids program in schools and communities. In 2008, Kelly received the prestigious Volvo National Hometown Hero Award for her work in promoting farm safety to children.

The MD of Clearwater in Northern Alberta participates in the Farm Safety 4 Just Kids program. Audrey Bjorklund with the MD has high praise for the program. "It’s a great program. It provides excellent resources which we use to deliver the farm safety message in schools and at our local trade shows."

Staying safe is an individual’s choice
Most farmers are well aware of the dangers in their occupation. Until these factors are addressed, agriculture will remain at the top of the list of most dangerous jobs.

Meantime, perhaps the best farm safety advice comes from an anonymous posting in response to an Internet news story regarding a farmer’s death. The person who posted the message said that before doing any task on his farm he asks himself, "What would my wife say if she saw me doing this!" FF

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