For the seventh consecutive year, ABP Food Group is sponsoring the special Farm Safety Award at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE).

The ABP Farm Safety Award recognises projects that focus on improving safety on farms and educating young people about the dangers of accidents in a farming environment.

The first ever online version of the BTYSTE will take place from today (Wednesday, January 6) to Friday (January 8) from 9:00am to 5:30pm.

ABP Food Group will host a virtual stand at the event. This will highlight the Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition, an annual competition sponsored by ABP which “provides students with practical, hands-on farm to fork insight into the opportunities and challenges of modern day beef production”, the food group says.

The competition complements agricultural science coursework by providing practical experience and educates students about the workings of the agriculture and food industry, the processor notes.

ABP also sponsors the ABP Angus Youth Challenge, the version of the competition which is held in Northern Ireland.

Martin Kane, managing director of ABP Ireland, said: “ABP is very proud to sponsor the Farm Safety Award for a seventh consecutive year.

Over the past seven years, ground-breaking projects were successful in this category and we look forward to another innovative project that will help improve farm safety.

“I would like to thank all of the entrants for their submissions, and for their role in helping to increase awareness around this very important issue.”

In the ABP podcast series ‘Farm Matters’, Pat Griffin, senior inspector with the Health and Safety Association (HSA), reported that in 2020 there were 19 fatalities in agriculture, nine of which were over 65 years-of-age and three of which were children, accounting for approximately 40% of all Irish workplace related deaths that year.

The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition is now in its 57th year and is one of the largest and longest-running STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) events in the world.