Massey Ferguson, a worldwide brand of AGCO, gave young farmers from South West England the opportunity to boost their knowledge of farm machinery maintenance and safety in a special workshop held at Alan Snow Agricultural Engineers in Cornwall.
28 members from Callington Young Farmers Club gathered at the Launceston premises of the MF dealer for Cornwall and West Devon in the first of a series of workshops set to be held for Young Farmers’ Clubs (YFCs) in England, Wales and Scotland this year.
“Following the great success of our pilot workshop in Wales in 2018, our plan is to roll out the programme across the three nations,” says Lindsay Haddon, Massey Ferguson advertising and sales promotion manager. “As a leading manufacturer of agricultural equipment, MF is committed to the promotion of safety and the correct use and maintenance of machines. These workshops are an excellent way of building awareness, sharing good practices and communicating a strong farm safety message to young people.”
With support from The Farm Safety Foundation and AGCO Parts, the evening workshops feature both theory and practice. Topics covered include why farm safety matters, the importance of an annual tractor safety check and guidance on how to carry out daily checks on machinery. Participants also learn how to get the most from a tractor and operate it in a safe manner. To test awareness skills, members may also be asked to carry out an assessment on a tractor which has been set up with a number of faults.
James Yeoman of Callington YFC said: “We had a fantastic evening and learnt a lot. Good knowledge of maintenance and safety is important to help minimise the hazards of working on the farm. Many thanks to the MF team for making us feel so welcome.”
“It was good to see the next generation of young farmers visit the depot and learn about safety and how it affects daily farm life,” remarks Alan Lake, Massey Ferguson Sales Representative at Alan Snow. “At the Launceston event, we also added a special focus on MF loaders including the latest MF FL-Companion safety feature. We are looking forward to holding a similar workshop for Tavistock YFC at the end of February.”
Massey Ferguson offers a full-line of products and services including tractors, combine harvesters, balers, hay & forage tools and materials handling equipment. The brand is a highly-active supporter of young enterprise in agriculture and is a principal sponsor of The National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (NFYFC), Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs (SAYFC), the Wales Federation of Young Farmers Clubs (Wales YFC), the Young Farmers Clubs of Ulster (YFCU) and Macra na Feirme.
