{"id":296176,"date":"2018-08-23T09:48:48","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T08:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.agriland.ie\/?p=296176"},"modified":"2018-08-23T10:00:11","modified_gmt":"2018-08-23T09:00:11","slug":"embrace-tractor-made-a-pitstop-at-virginia-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lightsail.agriland.ie\/farming-news\/embrace-tractor-made-a-pitstop-at-virginia-show\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Embrace tractor’ made a pitstop at Virginia Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Embrace FARM Tractor Drive pulled into the Virginia Agricultural Show in Co. Cavan yesterday for a quick pitstop, before heading back out on its countrywide journey aimed at raising awareness of farm safety<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Many high-profile representatives of the agri sector were on hand to welcome the voluntary drivers<\/strong>\u00a0– including Brian and Norma Rohan, founders of Embrace FARM which is a network that\u00a0supports those affected by farm accidents.<\/p>\n

The tractor –\u00a0a New Holland – was donated by WR Shaw of Tullamore and is being driven by a Macra na Feirme and the Young Farmers\u2019 Clubs of Ulster (YFCU) volunteer. They’re travelling around all 32 counties<\/strong> of Ireland over the course of the next month to shine a light on those that have lost their lives or have been seriously injured in farming accidents.<\/p>\n

The initiative – entitled ‘Our Drive to Remember’ – was launched at the Tullamore Show on August 12. The\u00a0finishing point will be the opening day of the National Ploughing Championships on Tuesday, September 18.<\/div>\n

Well-wishers were out in force yesterday (Wednesday, August 22), as the big, blue tractor arrived in Virginia driven by members of the Ramor Macra<\/strong> club.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Pictured are Brian Rohan of Embrace FARM; John Kelly, Teagasc Ballyhaise; John Bryan, former IFA president; Michael Duffy and Larry O\u2019Loughlin of Teagasc; and Norma Rohan of Embrace FARM. Image source: Adrian Donohoe<\/p><\/div>\n

Among those in attendance at the showgrounds included: Mairead McGuinness, MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament; James Healy, Macra na Feirme national president; Madeline Argue, chairperson of Cavan County Council; Heather Humphreys, Minister for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation; Thomas Duffy, Macra na Feirme national chairman.<\/p>\n

Others included: Martin Keane, Glanbia group chairman; Pat O\u2019Keeffe, Glanbia head of farmer relations; Conor McGovern, FBD; John Reid, Dairymaster; Eamonn McMeel, McAree Engineering and V Mac Silos; Elizabeth Ormiston, chairperson of Cavan Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA); Nigel Renaghan, IFA; and John Kelly, principal at Teagasc Ballyhaise.<\/p>\n

Mounted upon the tractor is an \u2018eternal light<\/strong>\u2018 representing those that have lost their lives around the island of Ireland.<\/p>\n

With around 290 lives lost in the last 10 years – representing a farmer killed every two weeks across the 32 counties – the tractor displays these stark statistics to remind people to always be aware of the farming environment and to farm safely.<\/div>\n

The light will also be displayed during the National Ploughing Championships once the tractor has reached its final destination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Embrace FARM Tractor Drive pulled into the Virginia Agricultural Show in Co. Cavan yesterday for a quick pitstop, before…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3438,"featured_media":296181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[171],"tags":[1569,683,8896],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightsail.agriland.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightsail.agriland.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightsail.agriland.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightsail.agriland.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3438"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightsail.agriland.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lightsail.agriland.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightsail.agriland.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightsail.agriland.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightsail.agriland.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightsail.agriland.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}