AgriKids, the farm safety educational platform, has kept the farm safety conversation going during the pandemic, delivering 49 webinars to an estimated audience of 10,000 children since the start of the crisis.
“Pre-Covid, AgriKids had built a strong following with its school and class-based workshops,” said founder, Alma Jordan.
Alma revelled in her role as farm safety advocate while standing in front of classrooms of enthusiastic children as they had a conversation about slurry; signage; animal behaviours; and tractors. “Tractors are always a contentious topic when brand names are included,” said Alma.
“For the animal piece, I included animal masks which always made the topic more fun and spontaneous. Two poor unfortunates, plucked from the masses and in front of heckling and giggling school mates, would don a bull or horse mask and play the role of ‘cranky bull’ or demonstrating the blind spots and kick zones of horses,” she said.
With the outbreak of Covid-19, Alma said she had to ponder whether something so engaging that involved so much audience participation could translate to a 2D screen and slideshow presentation.
Silver lining
“In fact, what has been a silver lining in a pretty dark cloud was how quickly we, as a society, adapted and used new technologies to work, play and learn. What’s more, audiences and participators were largely forgiving to those brave souls who tried these new methods of service delivery and in most times were encouraging and positive,” said Alma.
AgriKids delivered its first webinar in April. “Normally over a given month, I would drive to schools and events nationwide delivering workshops and in doing so could expect to reach close to 2,000 children and easily exceed 3,000km. This new way with the webinars has been a better way, keeping me home with my family a little bit more without having to cease the farm safety conversation,” Alma said.
“The events normally kick off with the farm visit checklist, what to know before you go which reminds children of key things they can readily do ahead of visiting a farm.
Along the way, children are taught to recognise and understand the warning signs they may see, as well as recognising key warning signs or behaviours in animals, all of which are important skills to teach and equip children with.
“I am still able to use certain props to get the points across in the webinars and I make sure to include real images where possible to ensure the event is relevant. I always like to use a combination of real life imagery as well as illustrations when it comes to the farm safety message. I feel this way we are connecting with the children without overtly diluting the seriousness of the message,” Alma said.
“It may be some time before I am able to visit a school in person but if I can still virtually meet the children and engage with them on the topic of farm safety then that will be a valuable opportunity not taken from us by Covid.
“Over the past three years, Zurich has been instrumental in delivering AgriKids to schools and communities nationwide. Earlier this year, Flogas came on and allowed me to dabble in the virtual world we all found ourselves in,” she said.
Creating a sustainable and safer farm life through educating children has been the ongoing ethos and objective for AgriKids over the past five years.
“It’s been tough keeping it going while operating solo but, in 2021, new alliances will be formed. All going to plan, these alliances will help deliver new approaches, creating a more sustainable AgriKids while delivering even greater impact,” Alma said.