USDA Grant Launches A&T Farm Safety Effort

For Immediate Release
January 7, 2002

Greensboro, NC:  Farmers and farm workers will have access to new farm safety information, thanks to a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture.

With $10,000 in funding from USDA, the Cooperative Extension Program at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University will implement a new farm safety project, which includes a Web site, the development of new farm safety educational materials and farm safety demonstrations.

Dr. Mohammed J. Ibrahim, an A&T Cooperative Extension specialist, leads the effort.

“Farming accidents cause many debilitating injuries, and sometimes death,” said Ibrahim. “Furthermore, the financial impact of a farm accident can present a tremendous challenge to struggling farmers, especially small-scale farmers without the financial reserves to compensate for lost profits. We believe that many accidents can be prevented through education, so we want to make farmers and farm workers aware of safety precautions, and giving them access to information to reinforce those precautions.”

The new A&T farm safety project follows a number of similar efforts by the A&T School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences to stem the incidence of farm accidents. The School is also a partner in the North Carolina Institute for Health and Safety in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. This partnership involves A&T’s School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, School of Nursing, and School of Technology, the North Carolina State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the East Carolina University School of Medicine.

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