Proclamation 4645—National Farm Safety Week, 1979

America is blessed with an efficient and productive agriculture. As a result, we enjoy an abundance of high-quality food products at a lower cost relative to personal income than in most other countries. This abundance permits a strong flow of food exports, contributing many billions of dollars to our trade balance and enabling us to help relieve hunger in many parts of the world.

One of the most persistent barriers to agricultural well-being has been farm accidents. Last year, there were more than a half-million farm and ranch residents who suffered disabling injuries, many of which were handicapping or fatal. The cost of those accidents approached $5 billion. The pain and personal loss to the injured and to their families and friends cannot be measured.

It has been proven that most accidents on farms and ranches can be prevented by controlling hazards, ending unsafe practices and by the use of protective equipment. The effects of many injuries can be lessened if prompt and correct actions are taken subsequent to the accidents and disasters. The time and effort invested in these activities is relatively small compared to the losses America sustains every year through farm accidents.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the week of July 25 through July 31, 1979, as National Farm Safety Week. I urge all who live and work on the Nation's farms and ranches to employ every needed safety precaution and practice, at work and in recreation, at home and on the highway. I also ask those who serve agricultural producers to support their accident-reducing efforts by providing encouragement and educational aids. We must succeed in this important task, as no Nation with concern for the well-being of its people can afford to lose such vital human and productive resources. A safer agriculture will be economically stronger and more productive, thereby benefitting us all.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and third.

JIMMY CARTER