Alma Jordan
Innovator
AgriKids
Ireland
Social
Rural Areas
Rural area close to city
The innovation journey
AgriKids was created with the principle of actively engaging, educating, and empowering children to become ambassadors for farm safety. Founded by Alma Jordan, AgriKids is a farm safety educational platform for children and teachers and grew from an increasing concern for safety on farms. AgriKids began in 2015, a year after the worst on record for farm fatalities. In 2014, 30 people lost their lives in farm accidents, five of those were children. Inspired by witnessing the extraordinary capabilities and influence children possessed during a Green Schools program, where children actively motivated their parents to embrace new recycling practices at home, Alma recognised the immense potential of children as catalysts for change.
“Current advertising practices are being directed solely to farmers, but I believe that by empowering children through education and engagement we are also educating the adults” (Alma Jordan, cited in Agriland, 2015).
The strategy of engaging children as the point of contact for educating and raising awareness on farm safety necessarily draws in other key people into the discussions, for example, parents, guardians and experts, thus the learning outcome reaches a wider audience.
The innovation impact
AgriKids has carried out various initiatives nationwide to promote and raise awareness of farm safety, health, and well-being. During COVID, a Zoom lesson hosted by Alma was attended by 4,000 children from all over Ireland and the UK and she was regularly invited as a guest speaker to events across Europe. Alma has developed various resources to promote farm safety on the AgriKids website to aid families, communities and schools in making the farm a safer place to live, work and visit.
The website offers resources such as supported learning programmes, various workbooks, lesson plans, discussion sheets and game zones to children from pre-school to sixth class. There is a dedicated space for Agrikids School’s Farm Safe Hub which provides links and resources to two tailor-made programmes both of which align to specific aspects of the school curriculum. Links are also provided to other relevant organisations and agencies.