Smarter, Safer Farms
Smarter, Safer Farms is a four-year $20 million program, that is investing in projects to:
- keep farmers, workers and farm families safe and well
- help farmers make sound business and farm management decisions
- ensure farmers are prepared and have strategies to manage their business through drought and the impacts of climate change
- support farmers to capture the benefits of innovation and new technologies, and
- position agriculture as a career of choice.
Smarter, Safer Farms includes $10 million of farm safety and wellbeing initiatives to change Victoria’s farm safety culture and reduce the number of deaths and injuries on farms. It also includes a $10 million skills program, that is providing targeted training to build capability in:
- financial literacy
- risk management
- farm planning
- adaptation to climate change.
Smarter, Safer Farms project areas
This 12-month preventative healthcare project for remote communities in East Gippsland is increasing health and wellbeing support for farmers, farming families and rural communities.
Funding for Bush Nursing Centres in Buchan, Cann Valley, Dargo, Ensay, Gelantipy District and Swifts Creek will ensure more services are available, including extra primary health, community, clinical, emergency, home-based and referral services.
Results of this project will help inform future health and wellbeing projects for farmers in remote Victoria.
Farmers or community members requiring health support can contact their local Bush Nursing Centre directly:
Buchan Bush Nursing Centre
61 Main Street, Buchan
(03) 5155 9222
buchanbna@gha.net.au
Cann Valley Bush Nursing Centre
27 Monaro Highway, Cann River
(03) 5158 6274 or (03) 5158 6210
Dargo Bush Nursing Centre
72 Lind Avenue, Dargo
(03) 5140 1246
dargobnc@gha.net.au
Ensay Bush Nursing Centre
5063 Great Alpine Road, Ensay
(03) 5157 3215
ensaybnc@gha.net.au
Gelantipy District Bush Nursing Centre
1 Saleyard Road, Gelantipy
(03) 5155 0274
gdbnc@gha.net.au
Swifts Creek Bush Nursing Centre
17 McMillan Avenue, Swifts Creek
(03) 5159 4210
swiftscknurse@gha.net.au
The project is being delivered by the Victorian Department of Health and is funded by Agriculture Victoria to keep farmers, workers and farm families safe and well.
The Farm Safety Council has been established to provide leadership and guidance across Smarter, Safer Farms project areas and to consider how we can work collaboratively to meet the safety, health and wellbeing needs of the agriculture sector into the future.
The Farm Safety Council includes membership from the following organisations:
Making our farms safer places to work and live
To improve safety on Victorian farms, more than 1000 farms are being supported to make permanent safety improvements.
Examples include projects to improve child safety, and livestock loading and handling in addition to upgrades to electrical machinery and chemical storage facilities.
The $5 million Farm Safety Rebate Scheme is fully subscribed and closed to new applications on 30 March 2021.
Rural Finance is administering the program and will contact existing applicants to advise about eligibility and funding availability.
Agriculture Victoria is partnering with Kidsafe Victoria to improve child safety on farms.
Kidsafe has free resources for schools and families and is delivering another year of the Farm Safety Creative Competition.
The 2022 competition encourages Victorian kids to get creative and design educational materials that promote safety on the farm.
The theme this year, ‘Farm Safety Heroes’ focuses on how we can all play a part in making the farm a safe experience for everyone whether we live, work on, or visit a farm.
Competition details:
- Farm safety heroes can submit their choice of creative entry, including a video, illustrated story, comic strip, poster, collage or a radio advertisement.
- The competition is open to all pre-school and primary school aged children in Victoria.
- The winners will feature in a state-wide farm safety education campaign to increase farm safety awareness among Victorian parents and carers.
- Entries close 4 November 2022.
- For more information about the competition and other learning resources, visit Kidsafe Victoria.
Agriculture Victoria is partnering with the National Centre for Farmer Health to deliver more health checks and referrals for farmers and their families.
The project is increasing the number of clinics and services available across Victoria, training more health clinicians, developing protocols to support the expansion of existing effective health programs, and identifying locally accessible referral pathways.
Farmers, farm workers and farming families are encouraged to take charge of their health and book in for a free health check today:
Hamilton
Western District Health Service
McKellar House
Tyers Street, Hamilton VIC 3300
Phone: 03 5551 8533
Email: agrisafe@wdhs.net
Penshurst
Western District Health Service
Sheppard Community Health Centre
146 Cobb Street, Penshurst VIC 3289
Phone: 03 5551 8533
Email: agrisafe@wdhs.net
Moira Shire & Greater Shepparton
Primary Care Connect
399 Wyndham Street, Shepparton VIC 3632
Phone: 03 5823 3200
Email: farmerhealth@primarycareconnect.com.au
Gannawarra Shire
Northern District Community Health
Visiting: Kerang | Cohuna | By appointment only
Phone: 03 5451 0200
Email: info@ndch.org.au
To learn more about improving farmer health, wellbeing and safety visit National Centre for Farmer Health.
Making our Farms Safer (MOFS) is a four-year, $3 million project delivering a campaign to raise greater farm workplace safety awareness and support two farm safety officers at the Victorian Farmers Federation.
Free safety resources and advice is available for all Victorian farmers. Contact the MOFS team for a Farm Safety Consult, Farm Safety Walk and Talk or a Health and Safety Management Systems Review.
Call 1300 882 833 for more information or visit Making our Farms Safer.
The National Centre for Farmer Health has partnered with Smarter, Safer Farms to deliver 20 Gear Up for Ag Health & Safety™ workshops to participating secondary schools.
Through practical and interactive workshops students will be provided training to make working on farms safer. Students will also be provided a kit of personal protective equipment.
Express your interest in having a workshop delivered at your school.
Each short AgVic Talk episode provides a snapshot of rural Victoria through real-life stories from young farmers, rural women, aspiring leadings and those whose lifetime of experience is giving them an opportunity to guide and help others in the industry.
New episodes on farm health and safety dive into the lived experiences of farmers across the state, discussing near misses and incidents that have made them realise that their most important farm asset is the people who live and work there.
Subscribe and listen to AgVic Talk wherever you get your podcasts or listen online.
This $2.9 million two-year project supports farmers, farming communities and farming families to have increased capacity to manage stress and look after their wellbeing.
Eleven organisations have received funding to deliver programs that will enhance social connectedness through community events and training as well as increase awareness of mental health treatment options and care and support services.
Grant recipients are working closely with their local communities to co-develop programs.
The project is funded through Agriculture Victoria’s Smarter, Safer Farms program and is being delivered by the Department of Health.
For more information, contact the delivery organisations directly:
- Bass Coast Council – Strengthening Resilience in Bass Coast’s Farming Communities
- Grampians Pyrenees PCP (Primary Care Partnership) – The Resourceful Farmers’ Project
- Buloke Shire Council – Building a Better Buloke – Resilience
- NCN Health – Farm Community Connect
- Gippsland Lakes Complete Health – Connect Well East Gippsland and Wellington Farmer Resilience
- Resilience Builders – Tools for Tough Times (resilience program in schools)
- Gateway Health – Building Ovens Murray Agricultural Sector Resilience
- Southwest PCP – Reaching Out to Farming Families
- Gannawarra Shire Council – Resilient Gannawarra
- Southern Grampians Glenelg PCP – Building Community Resilience Leadership and Capability
- Wimmera PCP – Farming and Rural Resilience Project.
Delivering on the skills and education component of the Victorian Government’s Digital Agriculture Strategy, SmartSkills from SmartFarms is connecting communities with science and collaborating with education providers and industry to build capability and future skills.
- Five SmartFarms have been established at Ellinbank, Hamilton, Horsham, Mildura and Tatura to bring together technologies and data to support smart information and new opportunities for agriculture.
- The Get into AgSTEM suite of workshops for upper primary and secondary students helps develop capability in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Through hands-on workshops at Agriculture Victoria’s laboratories or SmartFarms students will learn about contemporary technologies relevant to the agricultural sector.
The program includes Get into Genes, Get into Gums, Get into Digital Agriculture and Get into Grains. Each workshop is designed to increase the engagement of students with STEM and provide hands-on learning opportunities.
Get into AgSTEM is free, linked to the Victorian school curriculums and designed and delivered by Agriculture Victoria. Workshops are delivered at metropolitan and regional Agriculture Victoria sites. Remote delivery is also available in some instances.
For more information, email: bookings@getintoagstem.com.au or call 0466 848 713.
WorkSafe
For general advice relating to farm safety, please contact WorkSafe Victoria phone: 1800 136 089.
WorkSafe can offer Farm Safety Checklists or free confidential safety audits and advice.