Next week marks Canadian Agricultural Safety Week (March 13-19). It’s well known that agriculture is a dangerous profession. The pages of The Producer have carried stories of tragedy too many times.
Last year, Farm Living editor Karen Morrision focused on keeping children safer on the farm. This year, we are carrying stories on several topics, including:
- The “golden hour” for patients in critical condition and how STARS is providing quicker access to trauma centres for patients in rural and remote regions
- dealing with stress on the farmÂ
- distractions in farming
- information on workshops
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Worrisome drop in grain prices
Prices had been softening for most of the previous month, but heading into the Labour Day long weekend, the price drops were startling.
In 2013, The Canada Safety Council identified agriculture as the fourth most hazardous industry in Canada, with 12.9 deaths per 100,000 farm population. The Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting website notes that since the year 2000, the average number of agricultural fatalities each year has dropped to 89, but producers 80 and older are especially vulnerable, accounting for 80 deaths in 100,000.
Still, numbers alone don’t explain the issue. Check out our farm safety stories starting on page 24.
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A reader contacted us to question the assertion in last week’s op-ed, written by Sayara Thurston of Humane Society International/Canada, which claimed that transportation issues are “causing injury, stress, and for millions of animals each year, death.”
The “millions” part was what raised our reader’s curiosity.
We asked Thurston about that. She is quoting numbers provided by reports produced by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency obtained through access to information and from other public reports, such as one produced by the World Society for the Protection of Animals.
That report says: “According to CFIA statistics, between two and three million animals arrive dead at Canadian slaughterhouses every year — the vast majority are chickens. These statistics indicate that 634,634 chickens, 11,439 turkeys, 3,396 pigs and 153 cattle died during transport in the time period for which WSPA requested records (Oct, 9, 2008 to Jan. 9, 2009). This amounts to 649,622 animals arriving dead in just three months.”
We wanted to clear this up, in case others had similar questions.
