No abstract

Agriculture is one of the most hazardous industries worldwide. The number of serious accidents on farms, despite sophisticated technology, development of effective prevention methods, and high-quality training and improved skill levels of farmers, is still very high. The purpose of this study was to develop and apply a generic farm safety protocol to hazards that have been identified in previously published literature and demonstrate the potential benefits of such a protocol with a view to raising awareness of farm safety. Hazards in agriculture were categorized, and literature highlighting the risks associated with hazards was collated. A protocol was developed and applied to establish the likelihood of a hazard causing injury and the consequence of that injury should adverse effects of hazards be realized. The results indicated farm ownership, farm being used as a primary residence, and missing rollover protective structures as the greatest farm risks with expected likelihood and extreme consequence such as death or permanent disablement. Other hazards that require immediate attention while developing mitigation strategies include accident history and existing medical conditions of the farmer, working environment (i.e., alone and isolated), water bodies in the proximity of the farm, lack of periodic machine maintenance, uncovered power take-off and other rotating parts of the tractor, missing safety decals, auger entanglements, and unprotected use of pesticides. Intervention strategies may be guided by considering the results presented in this study. Moreover, farm safety specialists should increase their efforts to promote effective injury prevention methods and enforce safe work environments. The developed protocol addresses almost all common aspects of farming hazards and can be used to mitigate risks associated with hazards in any farm setting.

No abstract

No abstract

Wild blueberry fields have a significant proportion of bare spots/weed patches, scattered throughout the field, emphasizing the need for targeted fertilizer applications. The existing prescription map-based variable rate (VR) spreader cannot take account of the presence of small, irregularly shaped bare spots/weed patches during fertilization as only each half of the boom (3.66 m; 6 nozzles) is controlled-not each individual nozzle. The objective of this study was to modify the existing VR spreader for spot-application (SA) of fertilizer only in plant areas. The sensing and control system developed was capable of discriminating bare spots/weeds from plants, and shifting the independent control from 6 nozzles (3.66 m) to each pair of nozzles (1.22 m). The modified VR granular (MVRG) fertilizer spreader was able to use a prescription map and the sensing and control systems simultaneously within a field, to avoid fertilization in variable sized bare spots/weed patches. The performance of the MVRG fertilizer spreader was evaluated under two different lighting conditions and three ground speeds. Twelve bare spots/weed patches and plant areas were randomly selected in the wild blueberry field and weighed sticky collectors were placed to collect clay filler which was used as an analogue of fertilizer. The MVRG fertilizer spreader was operated on SA (application only in plant areas) and uniform (application in plants and bare spots/weed patches) modes alternately and the collectors were collected and re-weighed. Results of this study suggested that the MVRG spreader was capable of detecting plants/bare spots/weeds for SA of fertilizer. Spot application of fertilizer can help to reduce excessive fertilizer usage in bare spots/weeds, which will increase farm profitability.