Farmer reflects on life-changing accident
Five years on, Levin farmer George Thompson reflects on his life-changing accident and says it's great to see more support for farmers to make the industry safer.
110 farm businesses from across the country have signed up to the pilot scheme, which offered a discount of up to 75% on CPDs from Trax Equipment and Quadbar.
The initiative is being driven by the industry-wide initiative Safer Farms in conjunction with partners Rabobank, ANZCO Foods, LIC, Craigmore Sustainables and PGG Wrightson as part of the Farm Without Harm strategy.
The pilot programme enabled farmers to apply for a heavily discounted CPD via a redeemable voucher to the value of $400. That meant more than half of the retail price was covered by Safer Rides.
Participating retailers also provided a further 15% discount.
Farmers from every region of New Zealand applied for the discount vouchers, with the largest uptake in Canterbury, followed by Manawatu-Whanganui.
The highest number of applications came from sheep and beef farmers but there was still significant interest from dairy farmers.
Most applicants stated it would be their first CPD purchase.
In addition to the first 110 farm businesses, a further 100 more are on the waitlist, having applied. Safer Farms is currently exploring options to fund CPDs for these farmers too.
Wairarapa farmer and Farm Without Harm ambassador Lindy Nelson says the response shows how much farmers value safety and want to make use of fail-safe solutions.
“This is about being responsive to the practical needs of our members,” says Nelson. “Our members and retailers invested in this incentive programme to remove the cost barrier and this pilot has clearly struck a chord with farmers. Farmers clearly want to make their quad bikes safer.”
Farmers applying for the discount were invited to provide their reasons and Nelson says the responses highlighted the importance of making CPDs accessible to farm businesses.
“The reasons people have given include heartbreaking personal accounts of losing loved ones and neighbours through quad bike accidents,” she says.
“Many also cited the hilly nature of their farms, their desire to keep their people safe and commented that they had been thinking about fitting CPDs on their quads for a long time but cost had been a barrier and this was ‘the nudge’ they needed.”
Nelson says others mentioned how a CPD would provide them with peace of mind when their partner or colleagues were working out on farm alone.
“One farmer’s comment on an application, which I feel summed up our goals succinctly, was ‘safety first – prevention is better than an accident.’”
“Farm Without Harm recognises that solving this problem is going to require all of industry coming together and the Safer Rides programme is a practical way the industry is supporting farmers,” she says.
From 2019 to 2023, there were 22 quad bike-related fatalities in New Zealand, most involving rollovers and steep grades. The past year has been the deadliest yet for ATV-related fatalities with the majority involving roll-overs.
CPDs provide space underneath an upturned quad bike by spreading the weight of the bike and either creating space for survival or allowing the bike to roll off the occupant.
Four CPD products were available under the pilot programme. These are the QuadBar Original ($635) and Quadbar flexibar ($780) from Quadbar, and the QuadGuard ($838) and Lifeguard ($1724) from Trax Equipment.
For more details, visit, www.farmwithoutharm.co.nz/saferrides.
