Project Name: Road Safety Campaign
Project summary and highlights:
Renfrew County Federation of Agriculture, in partnership with Arnprior Regional Federation of Agriculture and several community sponsors launched a Road Safety Campaign this year. The campaign kicked off with creating 3 different 30s radio ads that were recorded at MyFM in Renfrew and Arnprior; one female, one male and one youth voice. The ads were also shared with Valley Heritage Radio. Ads were then aired for 3 weeks in spring during planting and will be aired again for 3 weeks in fall during harvest. The ads focus on reminding drivers to be patient and share the road with agricultural equipment, and that everyone, including the equipment operators, want to arrive at their destinations safely.
Further, 300 extra large (18” x 6”) reflective bumper stickers reminding drivers to “PASS CAREFULLY” were printed at Renfrew Printing. The stickers were distributed to the local dealer sponsors, as well as during the Renfrew Soil and Crop Improvement Association Twilight Tour in July to local farmers for placing on their slow-moving equipment to supplement existing SMV decals/signs. The Road Safety Campaign was much appreciated and applauded by all who heard the ads or received the bumper stickers.
Use of funds and partner contributions besides the Federation:
Most of the funds were put towards purchasing all the ads for the radio campaign to run for 3 weeks in May and 3 weeks in September/October. As a secondary item to supplement the radio campaign, 300 large format “Pass Carefully” bumper stickers were printed and distributed to members and local farmers for display on their slow-moving equipment. This is an increase by 100 over the initially planned 200. This enabled us to provide a good number to each of the local sponsors for distribution through their respective locations, as well as to have some on hand to distribute directly to members at local events.
Arnprior Regional Federation of Agriculture and local sponsors contributed funds to the project totalling $2000 to complement the $5000 Revive funding commitment, with the balance to be covered by RCFA. Local equipment dealer sponsors included Elliott’s Farm Equipment (Pembroke), Huckabone’s Equipment (Cobden), G&S Farm Equipment (Cobden), Bromley Farm Supply (Douglas) and Delta Power Equipment (Renfrew).
Organizations that partnered in-kind contributions:
MyFM and Valley Heritage were able to give us some additional “bonus spots” as an in-kind contribution, and local directors volunteered time to deliver bumper stickers, thank you cards and certificates of appreciation to the local sponsors.
Lasting and relevant impact to the OFA membership
This project provided benefits to Renfrew County Federation members with a simple, reflective, visible safety message they can display on their equipment for years to come as an additional visual reminder to motorists to respect farm equipment on the roads during peak seasons. The radio ads shared a frequent audible reminder to all drivers on the roads with an extremely important message during spring planting and fall harvest seasons when the prevalence of large slow-moving vehicles on the roadways in Renfrew County is much higher.
Our multi-media approach ensured that the message reached both the public and our farming community to meet them where they are at, and make a lasting impression that will serve to ensure everyone’s safety when sharing the road with agricultural equipment.
Our engagement of local partners, and the enthusiastic support they showed, allowed us to create this multi-modal approach, reach a wider audience, and look forward to plans to continue similar activities in years to come.
Bonus – Lessons learned, or surprises:
We have a very generous community, but that is not really a surprise. We need to remember that HST has to be included in our budgeting as we currently cannot claim it back – HST that had not been accounted for in our budget put us over budget.