March 1, 2011, Winnipeg, Manitoba – Money is on the way to nine recipients of the new $100,000 Farm Credit Canada (FCC) Ag Safety Fund. The money will support ag safety training from BC to PEI.
“FCC created this fund in 2010 because farmers told us safety was important, but they needed and wanted more training,” says Greg Stewart, FCC President and CEO. “We partnered with the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) to provide support for training that will help farmers manage safety risks in their operations.”
Marcel Hacault, executive director of CASA, says he is “very pleased with the response to the FCC Ag Safety Fund. Safety experts from across Canada were responsible for evaluating the 40 high quality applications that were submitted. After a thorough review, we are pleased to provide funding to nine projects that we feel will make the most difference to the safety of farm families and their operations.”
Of the projects funded, five will focus on training groups of individuals including farmers and their employees. The remaining four projects will provide funding that will empower others to provide safety training. The FCC Ag Safety Fund is supporting both national and provincial projects.
“For instance”, Stewart says, “$10,000 will support the Lundar Agricultural Society which will provide safe livestock handling training for producers in Manitoba. We are confident this project will provide much needed resources.”
The FCC Ag Safety Fund is supporting several training programs to help farmers develop and use safety plans in their operations. “In Quebec,” Hacault points out, “the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) will use its nearly $10,000 in funding to run regional workshops to identify and control safety risks on the farm. In Saskatchewan, the Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture will use $10,000 for workshops to encourage farmers to develop farm safety plans.”
For a list of projects funded by the FCC Ag Safety Fund 2011, go to https://casa-acsa.ca/english/funding_about.html.
FCC has a history of partnering with CASA to help make farm operations a safe place to work and live. FCC, along with CASA, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and Agriculture, and Agri-Food Canada, sponsor Canadian Agricultural Safety Week which takes place March 13 – 19 across Canada. For further details, visit www.planfarmsafety.ca.
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For more information, contact:
Diane Wreford Aliya Ladha Éva Larouche (bilingual)
Communications Corporate Communication Corporate Communication
CASA/ACSA Farm Credit Canada Farm Credit Canada
1-877-452-2272 1-306-780-5635 1-888-780-6647
dwreford@casa-acsa.ca aliya.ladha@fcc-fac.ca eva.larouche@fac-fcc.ca
