Visitors on the farm

As agritourism continues to grow in popularity, implementing safety strategies to help maximize fun and minimize liability is increasingly important.

Visitors on the farm can create challenges if they are unfamiliar with the agricultural environment and the hazards found there. In addition, visitors may not realize how important it is to supervise children. Farmers who invite visitors onto their farms need to ensure the safety and health of their visitors, as well as their workers and family.

Agritourism Health and Safety Guidelines for Children were developed by the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety to give farm owners the information necessary to reduce the risk of illness and injuries to children visiting their operations. These resources contain information on a variety of different agritourism activities, as well as topics pertinent to all operations.

Agritourism Facts

• Over 70 million people visit farms each year
• Almost 30 million of these farm visitors are children
• 42% increase in the number of farms offering agritourism from 2007-2012 in the U.S.
• Over $700 million of annual revenue is earned thru on-farm recreational services
• $1.3 billion dollars of fresh, edible agricultural products are sold directly to consumers annually

Safety Concerns

• Hay wagon turn-overs
• Animal bites & injuries
• Play area injuries
• Zoonotic diseases & illnesses
• Slips, trips and falls
• Drowning hazard
• Parking and traffic incidents
• Adverse weather
• Foodborne illness

Integrating Safety

Introducing a website for agritourism operations: Integrating Safety into Agritourism. This website contains:

• Walkthroughs to educate owners and managers about safety issues
• Checklists to help identify safety concerns
• Resources to help address these issues

For more information, visit
www.safeagritourism.org

Integrating Safety into Agritourism

Introducing a website for Agritourism operations: www.safeagritourism.org.

It's loaded with lots of resources and information. It has tools to educate owner/operators on what safety issues to look for, tools to help identify safety concerns, and resources to help address these issues:

• Educate: Interactive "walkthroughs" use photos to contrast improper practices with best practices and guidelines. The walkthroughs help you learn what hazards to look for and how to identify them.
• Identify: Checklists can be printed and used to conduct customized walk- throughs on a farm. Completing the checklists identifies and documents safety issues and hazards on the farm.
• Address: The resource page is loaded with signs, policies, logs and other practical, ready-to-print items, providing the tools needed to address the safety issues found by using the checklists. Over 150 resources available free!
• Questions: Contact us with questions, comments and to share information.

Topics

National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Safety and Health
1000 N Oak Ave, Marshfield WI 54449
nccrahs@mcrf.mfldclin.edu
800-662-6900