The Rural Voice, 1997-06, Page 10FARM SAFETY FACTS
FROM THE
WEST WAWANOSH
MUTUAL INSURANCE
COMPANY
1879 W1997
"7t(gighbour helping ighbour"
529-7921
r`) ISL
TURNING a corner too fast or
travelling too close to a ditch can
flip your tractor over SIDEWAYS
and crush you.
SAFETY TIPS:
• Slow down before turning.
• Lock brakes together for high speed travel.
• Stay away from ditches and embankments.
• Keep front-end loader buckets 1o.4for
travel.
• Avoid crossing steep slopes.
• Tum downhill if stability becomes
uncertain.
YOUR LOCAL AGENTS
Frank Foran, Ludtnow
Lyons & Mulhem Insurance Brokers Ltd
Godench
Banter, MacEwan, Feagan Insurance
Brokers Ltd., Godench
Kenneth B. MacLean, Paisley
John Nixon, Brussels
Delmar Sproul, Auburn
Clinton
Donald R. Simpson, Ripley
Chapman Graham & Assoaales,
Owen Sound 376-1774
Chapman Graham Insurance Brokers,
Walkerton 881-0611
City Insurance Offices Ltd., Sarnia 383-0044
McMaster Siemon Insurance Brokers,
Mitchell 348-9150
Miller Insurance, Kincardine 396-3465
Orr Insurance Brokers Inc., Strallord 271-4340
Percy Moms Insurance Broker
Owen Sound 376-2666
P.A. Roy Insurance Brokers Inc., Clinton 482-9357
Georgian Bay Insurance Brokers Ltd. 371-2104
Owen Sound 1-800-950-4758
Westlake - McHugh Insurance Brokers
Zunch 236-4391
Moore Insurance Broker Ltd., Dublin 345-3512
Hemsworth Insurance Brokers, Listowel 291-3920
Kleinknecht Insurance Brokers, Linwood 698-2215
G.L. Barclay Insurance Inc., Grand Bend 238-6790
"INSURANCE FOR FARM, RESIDENTIAL,
COMMERCIAL AND AUTO"
528-3824
524-2664
524-8376
368-7537
687-9417
529-7273
482-3434
395-5362
6 THE RURAL VOICE
Keith Roulston
Farmers don't know their power
It was a tiny item in a recent issue
of The Furrow but it was an eye-
opener.
"An inch of water falling on one
acre adds up to 22,538 imperial
gallons," it read. "Just eight drops of
a toxic substance would pollute that
amount of water
to the 10 -parts -
per -billion
level."
For farmers
handling
pesticides,
petroleum and
other toxic
substances, it
should have
been a sobering
thought. Eight
drops isn't
much of a spill
when pouring
chemicals but
it's enough to contaminate a huge
area of water.
In rural areas we've become used
to seeing farmers' efforts seem so
small, to appearing weak in a society
where the big guys ca11 the shots.
We're not used to thinking of farmers
as having huge power, for good and
evil. On the good side, the average
farmer now feeds 300 people — 300
people who wouldn't have food
without his efforts. How many
politicians or manufacturers have that
great an influence on life?
On the bad side, feeding that
many people brings a huge
responsibility to make sure the food
is high quality and healthy. And to
create that much food farmers now
use industrial processes that mean
that one mistake can cause untold
problems.
Familiarity breeds contempt, and I
think it can often be that way with
farmers. Used to handling pesticides
or liquid manure on a regular basis,
they can easily forget the power they
hold in their hands. The same kind of
mistake that can get a farmer
wrapped around a PTO shaft can
cause untold problems for society if
there's a manure spill, say, or a
stream is contaminated by herbicide.
It's a frame of mind involved. A
few years ago, for instance, I was
driving a big Ryder rental truck and
had a similar revelation. Accustomed,
as I was, to driving a car, my first
reaction when a car backed out of a
driveway in front of me was to fear a
crash. In a car, of course, I had as
much to fear as the person who made
the foolish mistake. But then it came
to me that driving my huge truck, I
had the power. The other person was
in more danger than I was. Of course,
with all that power I also had a huge
responsibility to make sure I wasn't
the cause of an accident because I
had much less to lose than whoever
else was likely to be involved.
Farmers are only starting to
realize the responsibility that comes
with their power, and even then some
are more receptive to the message
than others. Grower Pesticide Safety
Courses, though ridiculed by many
farmers when they first were
introduced, have gone a long way to
making some farmers realize the
dangers that come with this genie of
chemical pest control and the
responsibility that goes with the
power they have.
The Environmental Farm Plan
workshops have also reminded
farmers their farm is part of a natural
system and their efforts can have a
good, or a bad, effect on that system.
New quality control programs
may help remind farmers of the
power they hold in the food chain.
Treating an animal with antibiotics is
a natural event on a farm, but
needling too close to the shipping
date means that those antibiotics are
staying in the meat that people eat.
Overexposure to antibiotics, both
from over -prescription for humans
and careless use in food animals, is a
huge danger in our medical system.
Bacteria has adapted to many of our
wonder drugs and they are now
useless.
All these education processes are
simply designed to keep farmers from
taking for granted the every day facts
of farm life. As farms get bigger,
farmers have even more power. It's
essential that they recognize the
responsibility that goes with power.0
Keith Roulston is editor and
publisher of The Rural Voice. He
lives near Blyth, ON.
i