Caroline O’Dowd, a primary school teacher from Longford and current north west vice president of Macra na Feirme, had the idea of the drawing competition to address the issue of farm safety. With 30 farm deaths in 2014, the fatality rate in agriculture is far higher than any other economic sector.

The competition set out to raise awareness in primary schools throughout the country and with 600 entrants in its first year, it is regarded as a success.

There were four categories in the competition and there were winners from Cavan, Galway, Mayo, Limerick, Wicklow, Laois and Longford.

  • Category 1: Infants

    • 1st Jessica Curran, Scoil Mhuire, Swanlinbar, Co. Cavan

    2nd Isabella Gaynor, Castlerahan NS, Co. Cavan

    3rd Heather Boland, Knockadea NS, Co. Limerick

  • Category 2: 1st/2nd

    • 1st Aimee Clancy, Sacred Heart, Aughrim, Co. Wicklow

    2nd James Lambert, Sacred Heart, Aughrim, Co. Wicklow

    3rd Eoghan Keogan, Castlerahan NS, Co. Cavan

  • Category 3: 3rd/4th

    • 1st Aoibheann Mangan, Cloghans Hill NS, Co. Mayo

    2nd Anna Trappe, St. Catherine 's, Aughrim, Co. Galway

    3rd Emma Conrey, Rosenalis NS, Co. Laois

  • Category 4: 5th/6th

    • 1st Aisling McEnroe, Castlerahan NS, Co. Cavan

    2nd John Boyle, Sacred Heart, Granard, Co. Longford

    3rd Jaclyn Winterlich, Castlerahan NS, Co. Cavan

    O'Dowd believes the initiative is vital in educating young children about the dangers on farms. "I teach children from junior infants to second class and every year there are lots of little farmers among my students. These children are out on the farms with their parents, grandparents and other relations on a daily basis," she said.

    "Bad habits form at a young age"

    The teacher said that children do not understand the dangers on the farm because they consider it their playground. "I feel the bad habits are being formed at this young age so it is at this age they have to be taught the need for good safety practices. Also, I know that if the children are telling their parents what they should be doing in relation to farm safety it will have a much bigger effect” than traditional campaigns, she added.

    From 2005-2014, 22 children lost their lives on Irish farms and according to Macra president Sean Finan, raising the understanding is critical to reducing these numbers. “Anything we can do to raise the awareness of farm safety is very important and this competition was a worthwhile step in doing that,” he said.

    While the number of fatalities on farms has decreased in the past year, Finan believes there is still work to be done: “One death on a farm is one too many”.

    Young person of the year

    Among the winners was already distinguished young farm safety campaigner Aoibheann Mangan from Cloghans Hill NS, Co Mayo. The winner of the Category 3 competition picked up young person of the year award earlier this year when she created the Farmsafety4kids website along with fellow classmate Padraic Goodwin. The website was aimed at promoting safety amongst children on a farm and the innovative youngster certainly seems passionate about the issue. “If you don’t know farm safety, you won’t know what to do on a farm or how to do it properly,” she said.

    Anthony Jordan spoke with Aoibheann Mangan, Macra president Sean Finan and agriculture minister Simon Coveney at the ceremony; listen to our podcast below:

    Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney told Country Living he believed it was essential that views change in relation to the topic and that children have a major role in that.

    “It is important that young people challenge their parents about how a farm is being run from a safety point of view”.

    Minister Coveney also hinted at potential modifications to the way agriculture is being taught in schools.

    “At the moment, we are looking at changing the agriculture course in secondary schools in terms of curriculum, that is badly needed as it hasn’t been changed in 30 or 40 years but I do think we can look at ways in which we can use the education system more effectively to raise awareness around farm safety,” he said.

    Sponsoring the project were FBD Champions of Change, the IFA and author Alma Jordan Delaney of AgriKids.

    Caroline O'Dowd is hopeful that the art competition will become an annual event that will grow each year.