Smarter, safer farms
Smarter, safer farms is a four year initiative which will invest in targeted approaches to:
- keep farmers, workers and families safe and well
- helps farmers make sound business and farm management decisions
- ensure farmers can prepare and be resilient through drought and other impacts of climate change
- support farmers to capture benefits of innovation.
It 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, which will provide targeted training to build capability in:
- financial literacy
- risk management
- farm planning
- adaptation to climate change.
The program also delivers on the skills and education part of the Victorian Government’s Digital Agriculture Strategy. Investments are being made in the department’s SmartFarms and a schools and industry program that enables students and industry to learn and benefit from SmartFarm demonstration trials and technology. This includes expansion of the Get into Genes program to incorporate digital agriculture.
Smarter, Safer Farms is complemented by Making our Farms Safer, a commitment to invest $3 million over 4 years to:
- increase health checks for farmers
- deliver a new campaign to raise greater workplace safety awareness
- help the Victorian Farmers Federation employ two additional Farm Safety Officers.
Download:
Useful resources
- Victorian Farmers Federation – Be Farm Safe
- WorkSafe Victoria – Agriculture safety information
- Kidsafe Victoria - Farm Safety
- The Royal Life Saving Society of Australia – Keep Watch @ the Farm (PDF)
- Country Fire Authority – Prepare your farm for fires
- National Centre for Farmer Health:
- Primezone – Agriculture education in schools resources
- Get into genes