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Local student Marci LeBlanc wins a scholarship for agriculture and safety essay

Growing up at the farm, Marci LeBlanc learned the importance of safety in the agricultural field firsthand. The personal experience summarized in the form of an essay earned her a $1,500 scholarship.
Marci LeBlanc
The U of S presented a $1,500 scholarship to Marci LeBlanc for her ag safety essay. Photo submitted

Growing up at the farm, Marci LeBlanc learned the importance of safety in the agricultural field firsthand. The personal experience summarized in the form of an essay earned her a $1,500 scholarship. 

The University of Saskatchewan presented the award to LeBlanc on March 12 at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities’ (SARM) annual convention. 

In her essay, LeBlanc talked about the main hazards, and ways to avoid and prevent accidents and injuries in an intense farm environment.

“Growing up on the farm, I know how we do things … and what we do to prevent accidents. It was all in my head, it wasn’t a research paper, it was all from hands-on experience,” said LeBlanc.

She’s been operating a combine during harvest season for quite a few years now. She's also been helping to move and load equipment. She’s been there for seeding and she’s tried spraying. And this year since school is out, she plans to help more with seeding as well. Knowing the procedures, she understands possible dangers that have become a part of the daily farming routine really well, and she also knows how important it is to follow the safety tips even during the busy times.

“The farm gets pretty busy, so sometimes I feel that some (of the safety procedures) are missed every once in a while, but the bigger ones we don’t miss,” said LeBlanc.

In the essay, she outlined that they always ensure all seals and guards are in place on the equipment. They also wear proper clothes and shoes when working with heavy machinery.

“Make sure you don’t drop anything on your toes. Everyone learned that lesson once or twice. You don’t wear flip-flops to the field.”

When spraying around someone’s yards, they inform the owners while they have the proper personal safety gear on.

The safety procedures were also illustrated by some family examples.

“My grandpa was running one of the drills and then he accidentally clipped the power pole, so the safety was to stop, call SaskPower, make sure nothing bad could happen,” said LeBlanc.

In the essay, she also pointed out the importance of having measures in place for the safety of other people who come across farm equipment.

“When we are going down the road with all our farm equipment we have a pilot truck at the front, sometimes even at the back to make sure people see us and slow down or get over before they get too close because we move a lot slower than regular traffic,” said LeBlanc.

Mental health was another focus of her award-winning paper.

“Another thing was managing the stress because it’s a big safety concern. Getting enough sleep, making sure that we have enough workers during seeding, so no one’s overtired,” explained LeBlanc.

LeBlanc applied and was accepted to the U of S College of Agriculture Bioresources for the animal bioscience program and the scholarship helped cover her tuition.