By OMAFRA Ag Rep Brian Bell
Safety on Ontario roads
The agricultural industry is using roads more and more as farms operate more acres that are a significant distance from the home farm. Most of this equipment is also larger than the average motorized vehicle and requires more space on the road. Safety on the road with today’s large farm equipment continues to be a concern for the industry as over the past months there have been a number of fatalities involving farm equipment on rural roads and even within rural towns. The ag industry needs to take action on this and set some basic and obvious regulations for travelling on the road with equipment. We all know that lights in front, rear, and along the side are absolutes, as are rear view mirrors. We are heading into the last weeks of the 2017 harvest, which may be later than desired, and the temptation will be to hurry along as fast as we can. This is when safety actions are left out for the sake of saving a few minutes to hurry to the field or back. But sometimes, it’s these few minutes that end in days or years of regret when an accident occurs. Even though the time may be late or you feel rushed, please take the time to do things properly when travelling on the road with large farm equipment.
Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario conference
The Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO) is putting on their annual conference from November 29 to December 1, located in Blue Mountain (Collingwood area). The conference has thirty workshops and special events organized. If you are interested please visit the EFAO Conference website at: https://conference.efao.ca/
