The Hidden Farm Hazards Your Visitors Can't See, and the Farm Safety Plan That Stops Them
On a Saturday night in October 2014, more than 500 people came to a haunted hayride on a farm in Mechanic Falls, Maine. On a steep hill, the old Jeep towing one of the wagons could not stop. Cassidy Charette, 17, died. More than 20 others were hurt.
Not one rider could see the brakes. That is the problem. The farm hazards that hurt visitors are hidden: worn brakes, manure gas, spinning shafts, still water, flowing grain, protective cows, invisible germs and sudden wind. A farm safety plan for visitors finds each one, zones it and closes it before the gate opens.
Reality Check: the short answer. The biggest farm hazards for visitors are the ones they cannot see or judge: manure and slurry gas, PTO shafts and machinery blind spots, ponds and troughs, grain in wagons and bins, cows with calves and bulls, germs at the animal pens, play equipment in wind, and towed wagons. A good farm safety plan for visitors does five things: walks the farm through a child's eyes, splits it into public, supervised and no-go zones, fixes or locks every hazard before opening day, briefs every staff member, and logs every incident. |
By Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun.
I want to be straight with you. This is not a cheerful article. But if you host paying visitors, or you plan to, it may be the most valuable thing you read this year.
Because here is what nobody tells you when you open your gate: your visitors trust you with things they cannot see. They trust that the wagon will stop. That the pond is fenced. That the cute calf's mother will not charge. That the rail they just leaned on is clean.
Every one of those trusts is a promise you make without saying a word. Break one, and you can lose a child, a family's future, your farm and your peace of mind in a single afternoon.
The good news? Almost every story in this article had a fix. Most cost little. Some cost nothing but a padlock and a habit.
Let's find yours before a visitor does.
Why Farm Visitors Are More at Risk Than You Think
You grew up around your farm. You know the soft spot by the gate, the bull with a temper, and the shed you never enter on a still day.
Your visitors know none of it. And the numbers show it.
In the United States, a child dies in an agriculture-related incident about every three days, and about 33 children are injured every day, according to the National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety (NCCRAHS). The same centre estimates 25 million young people visit farms, and 3,735 visiting youth were injured on farms in 2014 alone.
For children who were not working, the leading source of injury was animals.
Now look north and south.
In Canada, 84 children under 15 died in agriculture-related incidents between 2006 and 2015. Eighty-two per cent of them were not doing farm work. They died while someone else was doing farm work (CAIR/Canadian Agricultural Safety Association).
In Australia, about 15 children under 15 die on farms every year. Around one in three of those cases involved a visitor, and, where it was known, more than half (56.7%) had no active adult supervision at the time (AgHealth Australia, 2001-2019).
In Great Britain, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recorded 29 deaths in agriculture, forestry and fishing in 2025/26 (provisional figures). Seven were members of the public. Three of those were children. Nine children have died on Britain's farms in the last five years.
HSE inspector for agriculture Wayne Owen put it in five words: "These are not inevitable accidents."
In Ireland, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) reports 12 children died in work-related farm accidents from 2015 to 2024. Between 2000 and 2010, 30% of child deaths on Irish farms were drownings in slurry or water.
Reality Check: Many of these figures cover children who live on farms, not just paying guests. That is exactly why they matter to you. A farm child has been warned for years. Your visitor has been warned for zero minutes. If a farm kid can be caught out, a city kid on their first farm visit is at even greater risk. |
And the risk is growing with your success. NCCRAHS says over 70 million people visit US farms and ranches each year, and about 24 million of them are children. More visitors means more chances for the hidden hazard to find someone.
If you have read my guide to the 10 common agritourism safety hazards, you already know the obvious ones: trips, sunburn, bee stings. This article goes underneath. These are the hazards a visitor cannot see, smell or judge.
The 8 Hidden Farm Hazards Your Visitors Can't See
For each hazard you will get what happens, a real story, the numbers, why visitors miss it, and a Field-Tested Play you can put to work this week.
No. 1: Manure and Slurry Gas
In September 2024, in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, a young boy stood watching his father agitate a manure pit on a dairy farm. He was not in the pit. He was just watching.
He lost consciousness. He was revived with CPR. Two ponies nearby died.
Lancaster Farming reported that hydrogen sulfide trapped under the manure crust was released when the pit was stirred.
That is the cruelty of manure gas. You cannot see it. At dangerous levels, you cannot smell it either.
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) smells like rotten eggs at low levels. But OSHA, the US workplace safety agency, says 100 parts per million (ppm) is immediately dangerous to life. Above 500 ppm, a person can collapse within five minutes. Above 700 ppm, collapse and death can come within one or two breaths.
OSHA is blunt: "the sense of smell should not be used as a detection method." At around 100 ppm, your nose can stop working within minutes.
The gas is heavier than air, so it hangs low. Penn State's Eileen Fabian warns this puts children and livestock at particular risk. Small people breathe closer to the ground.
In June 2014, in Dunloy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, eight-year-old Robert "Bob" Christie was with his father as he mixed slurry in a shed on a family friend's farm. Both were overcome by fumes. Bob died. His father survived. The coroner called it a "catastrophic tragedy". An HSENI inspector told the inquest the air that day was very still, so the fumes could not clear.
And there is a second killer hidden inside the first: the urge to rescue.
In July 2007 in Rockingham County, Virginia, a dairy farmer climbed into a manure pit to clear a pipe and was overcome. A farmhand went in after him. Then his wife and their daughters, aged 11 and 9, went in too. All five died.
In August 2025, six workers died at a dairy in Weld County, Colorado. The county coroner found they died from hydrogen sulfide exposure in a confined space. Purdue University's 2025 confined-space summary found five of the six were would-be rescuers trying to save the first man.
Think about what that means for your visitors. A parent who sees a child collapse near a pit will run straight in. Love makes them do it. The gas does the rest.
Why visitors can't see it: no smell at deadly levels, no colour, nothing to warn them. The danger is invisible, it sits at child height, and it spikes the moment you start stirring.
Field-Tested Play: Never agitate, pump or empty manure or slurry on a visitor day. Full stop. Northern Ireland's HSENI slurry code says keep children away at all times, mix on a windy day, open all doors, and stay out for at least 30 minutes after mixing starts. Penn State advises keeping people and animals at least 50 feet (about 15 metres) away. Fence every slurry store or lagoon (HSE guidance sets an overall minimum height of at least 1.3 metres with no footholds), lock every pit cover, and put the whole area in your no-go zone. Then tell your staff the hardest rule of all: if someone collapses near a pit, nobody goes in. You call the emergency services. |
No. 2: PTO Shafts and Machinery Blind Spots
A power take-off (PTO) shaft is the spinning bar that drives a machine from the back of a tractor. It looks harmless when it is turning slowly. It isn't.
Penn State Extension says a PTO shaft turns 540 times a minute (nine times a second) or 1,000 times a minute (16.6 times a second). Even a quick human reaction time of half a second is too slow. By the time you know you are caught, the wrapping has already begun.
HSE in Britain tells the story of a 13-year-old boy who was helping mill grain. He walked to the machine to fetch some string. His clothing caught on an unguarded PTO shaft. He lost his left hand and his left leg below the knee. Another boy leaned in and switched off the PTO.
HSE's rule is simple: every PTO shaft "must be fully guarded to prevent any contact with the rotating parts."
The wider machinery problem is blind spots. In Canada, 63% of child farm deaths from 2006 to 2015 were machine-related. Runovers alone caused 29%, and in those cases the child was usually a passenger or a bystander. An older Canadian study (1990-2008) found at least 45% of child farm deaths happened near the farmhouse: the yard, the driveway, the barn.
That is exactly where visitors park, walk and wait.
In Australia, quad bikes are the leading cause of death for children who visit farms, according to AgHealth Australia. SafeWork NSW says quad bikes have been linked to 63 deaths in New South Wales since 2011, 29 of them children under 16, and most child deaths happen when riding as a passenger, at slow speed, on flat ground, around the yard.
In Great Britain, it is illegal to carry a child under 13 on a tractor (HSE leaflet INDG472).
Why visitors can't see it: a slow shaft looks still. A big machine hides a small child completely. And visitors assume the driver can see them.
Field-Tested Play: On visitor days, park every tractor, loader and quad in a locked no-go yard with keys removed. Any machine that must move does so on a separate route, with a spotter walking ahead, and never through a public area while visitors are present. Check every PTO guard before the season, and never run a PTO within reach of the public. No passengers on tractors or quads. Ever. If a ride is part of your offer, read my complete guide to farm rides before you sell a single ticket. |
No. 3: Water: Ponds, Dams, Troughs and Lagoons
Water is the quietest killer on a farm. There is no splash or scream. A toddler can slip under in seconds, and the adults ten metres away never hear a thing.
In Australia, drowning causes around 30% of child farm deaths. Dams alone are responsible for 20%. Children under five make up three-quarters of child farm drownings, and around a quarter of child drowning victims were visitors to the farm (AgHealth Australia, 2001-2019).
In Canada, all ten children who drowned on farms between 2006 and 2015 were under ten years old. Half drowned in dugouts, which are farm ponds. One in ten drowned in a trough or barrel.
A trough. Something your visitors walk past without a second look.
Why visitors can't see it: water looks calm and pretty. Parents relax near it. A farm pond has steep, slippery banks and cold, murky water that hides a child within seconds. And no visitor thinks of a water trough as a drowning risk.
Field-Tested Play: AgHealth Australia's child-safety checklist is the best model I have found. Fence dams, effluent ponds and channels near the house. For a fenced house yard, its checklist asks for fences 1.2 to 1.5 metres high, with less than 10 cm gap at the bottom, no footholds, and self-latching, child-resistant gates. Fit lids or mesh to tanks, wells and troughs. Then go further for visitors: keep every pond outside your public zone, keep troughs inside fenced animal areas, and if water is part of the view, give visitors a fenced viewing spot instead of an open bank. |
No. 4: Grain Wagons, Trucks and Bins
On the night of 13 October 2015, on a family farm in Alberta, Canada, three sisters were playing in the back of a grain truck. Catie Bott was 13. Her twin sisters Dara and Jana were 11. The canola seed in the truck covered them. All three died.
Glen Blahey of the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association said it plainly to CBC: "Grain is not a play area." He compared flowing grain to quicksand.
Purdue University keeps a long-running national database of these incidents. By the end of 2025, its database held 2,477 agricultural confined-space cases since 1962, and 58.6% of them involved grain. In 2025 alone, Purdue documented 21 grain entrapments. In Canada, six of the seven child asphyxiation deaths from 2006 to 2015 involved grain or silage.
Here is why this matters for agritourism. Grain looks soft and fun. Many farms now run corn pits and grain play areas. Children see a wagon of grain and want to jump in.
Why visitors can't see it: grain looks solid on top. When it flows, from a wagon outlet or the bottom of a bin, it pulls a child down faster than an adult can pull them out.
Field-Tested Play: Treat every grain truck, wagon and bin as a no-go hazard on visitor days. Lock bin doors and ladders, remove or lock ladders on grain carts, and park full trucks and wagons out of sight of the public. If you run a corn pit or grain play area, it must be a purpose-built box with no outlet, no flowing grain and constant staff supervision. That is a different thing entirely from a working wagon. |
No. 5: Cows With Calves, Bulls and Other Big Animals
On 29 September 2020, Michael Holmes, 57, was walking two dogs on leads with his wife along a public footpath through a field at Hollinghurst Farm, near Wakefield in West Yorkshire. Cows with calves approached, knocked them down and trampled them. He died at the scene. His wife suffered serious spinal injuries.
The inquest heard of four earlier incidents in the same field. The coroner's report noted HSE figures of about six deaths a year from cattle trampling, and 11 in 2020. In May 2024, the farmer received a suspended jail sentence.
HSE's guidance is clear: where possible, cows with calves should not graze fields with a public right of way. If they must, fence them off from the path.
In England and Wales, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (section 59) makes it an offence to let a bull over ten months old be at large in a field crossed by a public right of way. The only exception is a bull that is not a recognised dairy breed and is running with cows or heifers.
In the US, NCCRAHS says animals are the leading source of injury for children who are not working on farms.
Why visitors can't see it: a cow with a calf looks gentle. A placid bull looks bored. Visitors don't know the signs: the lowered head, the stamping, the cow placing herself between you and her calf. And a family dog can turn calm cattle into a stampede.
Field-Tested Play: Keep cows with young calves, and every bull, in fields your visitors never enter. Put visitors and large animals on opposite sides of a double fence: two fences with a gap between them so no hand, head or child can reach through. Ask guests to leave dogs at home or in the car park area, and say so on your booking page. For more on animal liability, read how to manage liability when hosting farm animals. |
No. 6: The Germs at the Petting Pen
This is the hazard that fools the most careful farm owners, because your animals can look perfectly healthy.
In August and September 2009, an outbreak of E. coli O157 hit Godstone Farm, a popular open farm in Surrey, England. The official investigation, chaired by Professor George Griffin, found 93 people affected. Seventy-six were under ten. Seventeen children developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a form of kidney failure, and eight needed dialysis.
The report found the farm's risk plan relied mainly on visitors washing their hands. It called that approach "misdirected." It also found infection risk even without touching animals, from railings and soiled footwear. In 2014, 35 claims were settled at the High Court in London for a total of about £1 million (Farmers Weekly).
At the North Carolina State Fair in 2011, 25 people fell ill with E. coli O157 after visiting a livestock building. The CDC found that visiting the building was the only exposure linked to the illness, and only about a quarter of the sick people it studied had touched an animal.
In the US, the 2023 NASPHV compendium counted 156 outbreaks linked to animals in public settings in the ten years to 2020. They caused 6,388 illnesses, 1,233 hospitalisations and 10 deaths.
Now the case every US pumpkin patch owner should know.
In October 2013, seven-year-old Emma Heidish of Rosemount, Minnesota, fed hay to cows at the animal area of Dehn's Pumpkins, a family pumpkin patch in Dayton, Minnesota. She caught E. coli, developed HUS and spent about a month in treatment, including dialysis. Minnesota Lawyer reported her kidneys are expected to fail by her early twenties.
Her family said the farm failed to take basic precautions such as handwashing stations. The farm's owners settled for $415,000 before trial. A Hennepin County jury then found the farm negligent and set damages at about $7.5 million. The defence had argued that her caretakers should have used hand sanitiser. Her lawyer said something every farm owner should hear: "The people who run the pumpkin patch are decent people."
Decent people. Still liable. I wrote the full story in The $7.55 Million Petting Zoo.
Reality Check: Hand gel is not enough. HSE says alcohol gels and wipes are "not a substitute for hand washing on farms." The UK industry code of practice says the same, and the NASPHV compendium says soap and water is still preferred. Note too that HSE's old leaflet AIS23 has been withdrawn. Its replacement is the industry code of practice on preventing ill health from animal contact, published through the Access to Farms partnership. |
Why visitors can't see it: E. coli O157 can live in healthy-looking cattle, sheep and goats. It sits on rails, gates, buggy wheels and shoes. A child touches a rail, then an ice cream, and nobody sees a thing.
Field-Tested Play: Build your animal area as a one-way loop: entrance, animals, then handwashing with running water (preferably warm), soap and paper towels, then food. Never sell or allow food inside the animal area. Put staff at the sinks to supervise children, especially under-fives. Keep bedding clean and stop buggies and wheelchairs being pushed through dirty areas where possible by laying a clean, hard path. The NASPHV compendium says children under five should not have direct contact with higher-risk animals, so give them a fenced viewing spot instead. My article Only 3 in 10 Visitors Wash Their Hands shows how to get people to actually use the sinks. |
No. 7: Jumping Pillows, Inflatables and Play Equipment
On 3 October 2018, at a pumpkin patch north of Lincoln, Nebraska, a gust of wind estimated at about 60 mph lifted an inflatable jumping pad and flipped it. Two-year-old Caleb Acuna and his five-year-old sister Aura were thrown about 120 feet. Caleb died. Aura suffered a concussion and a broken arm. Their father later filed a wrongful-death suit.
Wind is the hidden hazard here. On a calm morning, nobody imagines a giant inflatable could fly.
HSE's guidance for inflatable play equipment says no inflatable should be used in winds above 24 mph (some have a lower limit in the manual). It says every inflatable must have at least six anchor points, all of them used outdoors, and should be tied down so the wind cannot get under it.
The second hidden hazard is what people do on the pillow. In 2009, Ben Ackland, a 21-year-old university student on a bus tour to a farm park in New South Wales, Australia, tried a back flip on a large jumping pillow. He landed badly and was left with incomplete quadriplegia. In 2014 an Australian court awarded him more than A$4.6 million. After appeals, the case ended in 2015 with the park's owners agreeing to pay him A$3.5 million. The Inverell Times reported the park knew the manufacturer advised against somersaults on its pillows.
The third is plain maintenance. In Georgia, 11-year-old Kyra Powell caught her tights on an exposed bolt in a farm's low-ropes play area. The bolt tore her leg open. FOX 5 Atlanta reported the farm admitted the bolt was sticking out, then added the family friend who brought the children as a defendant, citing the fine print on the ticket. After FOX 5's first report, the farm dropped her from the case.
That last detail should worry you. Ticket fine print is not a safety plan. Read Do Liability Waivers Protect Your Farm? before you lean on one.
Why visitors can't see it: parents can't judge wind loads, anchor strength or the manufacturer's rules. Children can't see a bolt at ankle height. Teenagers think a back flip is fun.
Field-Tested Play: Buy a cheap handheld wind meter (an anemometer) and check it every hour. Write your shutdown wind speed on the sign at the pillow, follow the manual or HSE's 24 mph limit (whichever is lower), and close early when a storm is forecast. Post the manufacturer's rules (no flips, age groups, numbers on at once) and put a trained staff member at every inflatable. Walk every piece of play equipment each morning, hand running over every bolt, edge and rope. My bad-weather policy guide shows how to close without losing your customers' goodwill. |
No. 8: Hayrides and Towed Wagons
Back to Harvest Hill Farms in Maine, October 2014.
The ride was called "The Gauntlet." A 1979 Jeep was towing a wagon full of passengers through the woods. On a steep hill, the brakes failed. The Jeep and wagon careened down the hill and slammed into a tree. A State Fire Marshal's officer said riders were thrown into each other and into trees.
At trial, prosecutors said the brakes had been compromised for a long time: a broken emergency brake, rear brakes that did not work and contaminated brake fluid. When the farm later pleaded guilty, a prosecutor also cited a load that was too heavy and an improper trailer hitch. The driver was acquitted of reckless conduct. The farm company pleaded guilty to a felony charge of driving to endanger and was fined $7,500. Cassidy's parents later settled a wrongful-death suit for an undisclosed amount, which supports a foundation set up in her name.
After the crash, Maine lawmakers looked at regulating hayrides. In 2016, the state's Fire Marshal and State Police chief wrote to lawmakers that a working group agreed "there is very little that can be done to regulate motorized farm rides" (Bangor Daily News). It estimated 250 to 400 motorised farm rides run in Maine each year. It recommended tow vehicles rated for the load, regular inspections and documented driver training.
Read that again. In Maine, no inspector is coming, and in many places the safety of your ride is on you. (A few states, such as Pennsylvania, do require hayride attractions to be approved, so ask what applies where you are.)
Hayrides carry a second hidden hazard: young people near moving wheels. In October 2024, a 13-year-old volunteer scare actor in Minnesota and a 12-year-old in Tennessee were killed at haunted hayrides when they went under the wagons. In 2023, a 14-year-old scare actor in Rhode Island fell under a wagon's rear wheels and was critically injured (PNASH, University of Washington).
Why visitors can't see it: riders can't inspect brakes, hitches, tyres or the driver's training. On a dark night ride, nobody can see who is near the wheels.
Field-Tested Play: Use a tractor or tow vehicle rated to pull and stop the loaded wagon on your steepest slope, and avoid steep routes altogether where you can. Inspect brakes, hitch, pins, tyres and the wagon floor before every season and every ride day, and write it in a log. Fit sides or rails to the wagon, set a maximum number of riders, and have everyone seated before you move. Train and sign off every driver. Keep all actors and helpers away from moving wheels, and never let anyone jump on or off a moving wagon. |
Hidden Farm Hazards for Visitors at a Glance
Print this table and walk your farm with it.
Hazard | Why visitors can't see it | The fix | Cost to fix |
Manure and slurry gas | No smell at deadly levels; sits low, at child height | No agitation on visitor days; fence stores; lock covers; no-go zone | Low |
PTO shafts and machinery | A slow shaft looks still; a child vanishes in a blind spot | Lock machines away with keys out; guard every PTO; no passengers | Low |
Ponds, dams, troughs | Water looks calm; troughs look harmless | Child-resistant fencing; lids or mesh; keep water out of the public zone | Medium |
Grain wagons and bins | Grain looks solid until it flows | Lock bins and ladders; park full wagons out of sight | Low |
Cows with calves, bulls | Gentle-looking animals; visitors miss warning signs | Separate fields; double fencing; no dogs near cattle | Low to medium |
Germs at animal pens | Healthy animals carry E. coli; germs sit on rails and shoes | One-way loop; soap-and-water sinks; no food in animal areas | Medium |
Inflatables and play equipment | Wind, anchors and bolts are invisible to parents | Wind meter; all anchors used; staff on duty; daily checks | Low |
Hayrides and towed wagons | Riders can't inspect brakes or hitches | Rated tow vehicle; pre-ride checks; trained drivers; seated riders | Low to medium |
Your Farm Safety Plan for Visitors in 7 Steps
Stories are only useful if they change what you do on Saturday. Here is the plan I would put in place on any farm before opening day.
If you want a deeper written plan for your whole business, my guide on how to write a risk management plan for your agritourism business fits around this one.
Step 1: Do a Hazard Walk Through a Child's Eyes
Walk your entire farm the way a curious five-year-old would. Crouch down. What can you reach? What can you climb? What looks like it would be fun to jump in, open or touch?
Then walk it again as a distracted parent on a phone, and once more as a 16-year-old showing off.
Penn State Extension's agritourism safety guide puts the mindset perfectly: "Never assume that people will do what you think they should."
Step 2: Split Your Farm Into Three Zones
Every part of your farm belongs in one of three zones.
The public zone is open to all: parking, paths, toilets, handwashing, picnic area, shop and a fenced play area. It is checked every morning and fenced off from everything else.
The supervised zone is where visitors go only with trained staff present: animal pens, hayrides, jumping pillows, guided tours.
The no-go zone is locked, fenced and signed: manure pits and slurry stores, grain bins, the workshop, the machinery yard, bulls, cows with young calves and open water.
HSE's Wayne Owen said young children should be in a safe, fenced area such as a farmhouse garden, not in the farm workplace. Your public zone is the visitor version of that garden.
Step 3: Close Every Hidden Hazard Before Opening Day
Go back through the eight hazards above. For each one you found on your walk, choose one of four actions, in this order:
Remove it. Move the grain wagon. Sell the old quad.
Lock it. Padlock the pit cover, the bin door, the workshop.
Fence it. Child-resistant fencing for water and slurry; double fencing for animals.
Watch it. If it must stay open, put a trained person there every minute it is open.
Photograph each fix with the date. Those photos are part of your record if anything ever goes wrong.
Step 4: Sign It Clearly
Signs don't replace fences, but they matter twice: once to warn visitors, and once in court.
Post signs for handwashing, no-go areas, animal rules, inflatable wind limits and hayride rules. Use big words and pictures, because many visitors are children or don't read English well.
In many US states, an agritourism warning sign with exact wording is required before the law protects you at all. See my guide to agritourism warning signs and where to post them.
Step 5: Brief Every Staff Member, Every Day
Your staff are your safety plan. A 10-minute briefing before opening can cover: today's weather and wind limit, which areas are closed, who is on each supervised area, the lost-child plan, and the rule that nobody enters a pit or slurry store to rescue anyone.
Make sure every person knows where the first-aid kit is and how to call for help. Penn State Extension recommends phones or two-way radios so staff can reach each other and emergency services fast. Write the briefing on one card so nobody skips a line.
Step 6: Set Your Emergency Triggers in Advance
Decide before the day what makes you close an area: a wind speed, a storm warning, a crowd size, a sick animal. When you decide in advance, you don't argue with yourself on a busy Saturday when money is coming through the gate.
Have a written plan for a lost child, an injury, a storm and a collapse. My first aid and emergency plan guide gives you examples you can adapt.
Step 7: Keep an Incident Log
Every injury, every near miss, every complaint about a hazard goes in a log: date, time, place, what happened, what you did and what you changed.
Penn State Extension recommends an incident report for every injury to a visitor or employee. Notice something in the Holmes case: the inquest heard of four earlier incidents in the same field. A log turns warnings into fixes before they turn into a tragedy.
Field-Tested Play: the visitor-day safety checklist. Print this and tick it off every morning before you open: ☐ Wind speed checked and written on the board; inflatables open only below the limit ☐ All machines parked in the no-go yard, keys removed, PTOs off ☐ No manure or slurry agitation planned today; pit covers and store gates locked ☐ Pond, dam and lagoon fences and gates checked; troughs covered or inside animal fences ☐ Grain bins, ladders and wagons locked or out of sight ☐ Cows with calves and bulls in fields away from visitors; double fences intact ☐ Handwashing sinks working with soap, running water and paper towels; no food in animal areas ☐ Play equipment walked: bolts, edges, ropes, anchors ☐ Hayride brakes, hitch, tyres and wagon checked and logged; driver signed off ☐ Staff briefed: closed areas, zone posts, lost-child plan, no-rescue rule for pits ☐ First-aid kit stocked; phones or radios charged; emergency address written by the phone ☐ Incident log ready |
What the Law Will and Won't Do for You: Questions to Ask Your Insurer and Lawyer
I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice. Laws differ by country, state and province, and they change. What I can do is give you the questions that the cases above should make you ask.
What US Agritourism Laws Cover, and What They Don't
More than 35 US states now have agritourism liability laws. Penn State's Center for Agricultural and Shale Law listed 35 in July 2024, and Connecticut added its law in 2025. You can check your own state in my agritourism laws by state guide.
These laws usually protect you from the "inherent risks" of farm activities. They usually do not protect you from negligence, from failing to warn about a danger you knew about, or from skipping the steps the law requires.
An Ohio State review of 31 state laws (2019) found 28 required posted warning signs, and most give the exact wording, often with rules on letter size and placement. Miss those details, and you can lose the protection.
Some states go further. Oklahoma's law is lost if the operator knew, or reasonably should have known, of a dangerous condition on the land and did not warn the participant about it. Oregon's is lost if the operator fails to make a reasonable inspection of equipment. Alabama's is lost for failing to train employees properly.
Look at the eight hidden hazards again. An unfenced slurry store. An unguarded PTO shaft. Faulty brakes. Missing handwashing sinks. Would a court call any of these an inherent risk? Very likely not, and that is exactly the question to put to your lawyer before opening day.
Two Cases That Teach the Lesson
Sallee v. Stewart (Iowa, 2013). A dairy farm in Iowa hosted free kindergarten tours. A chaperone climbed to the hayloft, stood on hay bales covering a hole in the floor and fell through, breaking bones. The farm relied on Iowa's recreational-use law. In 2013 the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that law did not cover an educational farm tour, and sent the case to trial. The Iowa Legislature quickly changed the law to cover educational visits. A jury later found the farmers were not negligent, and the Court of Appeals agreed in April 2015.
The farmers won. But it took around five years in court. The lesson: never assume a law covers what you do until a lawyer has checked.
Green v. St. George's Episcopal Church (Tennessee, 2018). An elderly woman on a church bus trip to a farm was hurt when the bus hit a drainage berm on the farm's gravel driveway. The jury assigned 85% of the fault to the farm. But Tennessee's agritourism law protects providers from the inherent risks of agritourism if they post the required warning sign, and the Tennessee Court of Appeals held the farm immune from liability, though not from its share of the fault.
The lesson: when you meet every requirement, these laws can work hard for you.
In the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia
In Great Britain, section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places a duty on employers, and on the self-employed, to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that people who are not their employees are not exposed to risks to their health or safety. That includes your visitors. The cattle case and the PTO case above both ended with farmers pleading guilty under this section.
In Canada, Australia and Ireland, workplace health and safety rules and the law on occupiers' and negligence liability apply to farms that host visitors, and the details differ by province, state and country. The Australian jumping pillow award shows how large a claim can become. Ask a local lawyer what applies to you.
The Questions to Take to Your Insurer, Agent and Lawyer
Liability is a real fear for farmers who host visitors. A national US survey of 1,834 operators (University of Vermont and partners, surveyed 2019-2020, published 2021) found 81% rated liability concerns as a challenge, and 80% said the same about the cost or availability of insurance. You are not alone.
Take these questions to your next meeting:
Does my policy cover paying visitors, school groups and events, or only farm operations?
Are animal contact, petting areas and illness such as E. coli covered, or excluded?
Are hayrides, wagon rides, inflatables and jumping pillows covered? Do you need my inspection and driver records?
Does my state or country have an agritourism law, and what exact sign wording, size and placement does it require?
Does that law cover educational tours, field trips and chaperones, or only recreation?
What happens to my protection if a court says I knew, or should have known, about a hazard?
Will my waiver or ticket terms hold up for children, and could they backfire on the adults who bring them?
What records (hazard walk photos, logs, staff training) should I keep, and for how long?
Are volunteers and young helpers covered, including scare actors at night events?
What limit do I need, and what happens if a claim is larger than my cover?
For more, read Agritourism Insurance: What It Covers, What It Costs.
Reality Check: Remember the pumpkin patch case. Emma's lawyer said the farm's insurance likely would not cover the full award (FOX 9). Insurance is a backstop. The fence, the sink and the padlock are what actually keep a child safe, and keep a claim from ever happening. |
What a Farm Like Mine Has to Think About
I am the founder of Bloopy Durians, a durian farm in Bentong, Malaysia. We welcome visitors from all over the world, and many companies send their staff and management to us.
I'm sharing this not to tell you how we do it, but to show you that every farm has its own hidden hazards, and the questions are the same everywhere.
Visitors reach our farm through a four-wheel-drive adventure. So a farm like mine has to ask: who checks the vehicles, who drives them, and what happens if the weather turns? You can read the story of how our 4WD adventure ride brought revenue to my durian farm.
The farm keeps chickens, geese, ducks and fish. So the questions are: where do children stand near the animals, and where do they wash their hands afterwards?
Customers can pitch tents. So: where does the camping area sit compared with animals and working areas, and what happens at night?
And durian seasons are short, about four to five months a year, from December to February and June to August. On any farm, a short season squeezes a lot of work into a few months, and busy weeks are exactly when tired people skip checks.
Your farm will have its own list. Pumpkins, apples, dairy, sheep or vines, the hazard walk works the same way. Is your farm ready for that walk? Take my 21 signs your farm is ready for agritourism as a starting point. And if you host schools, my farm field trips guide covers the extra planning children need.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the biggest hazards on a farm for visitors?
The biggest farm hazards for visitors are the ones they cannot see or judge: manure and slurry gas, PTO shafts and moving machinery, ponds, dams and troughs, flowing grain in wagons and bins, cows with calves and bulls, germs at animal contact areas, play equipment such as inflatables in wind, and towed hayride wagons with poor brakes or hitches.
How do I keep visitors safe on my farm?
Walk your farm through a child's eyes, then split it into public, supervised and no-go zones. Fix, lock or fence every hazard before opening day, post clear signs, brief your staff every morning, set emergency triggers such as a wind limit in advance, and record every incident and near miss in a log.
What should a farm safety plan for visitors include?
A farm safety plan for visitors should include a hazard walk, a zone map, the fixes for each hazard, signs, a daily opening checklist, staff roles and briefings, weather and emergency triggers, a lost-child and first-aid plan, handwashing and animal-contact rules, ride and equipment inspection records, and an incident log.
Is hand sanitiser enough after touching farm animals?
No. HSE in Britain says alcohol gels and wipes are not a substitute for hand washing on farms, and the US NASPHV compendium says soap and water is still preferred. Provide running water, soap and paper towels at the exit of every animal area, and supervise children while they wash.
How long should people stay away after mixing slurry or manure?
Northern Ireland's HSENI says stay out of the building for at least 30 minutes after mixing starts, and another 30 minutes every time you move the pump. Penn State advises keeping people and animals at least 50 feet away. On a visitor farm, the safest rule is simple: never agitate on a day visitors are present.
Does an agritourism law protect me if a visitor gets hurt?
Sometimes. More than 35 US states have agritourism liability laws, but most only cover the inherent risks of farm activities. Many require exact warning signs, and protection is usually lost for negligence or known dangers you failed to fix or warn about. Ask a lawyer in your state or country.
Can children ride on tractors at my farm?
In Great Britain it is illegal to carry a child under 13 on a tractor. Elsewhere, the safety advice is the same: Canadian and Australian data show children are often killed as passengers or bystanders. Never carry visitors' children on tractors or quad bikes, and keep machines out of public areas.
Get the Complete Visitor-Ready System
You now know the eight hidden hazards. But knowing is not the same as being ready.
That is why I wrote The Visitor-Ready Farm (Second Edition), a 112-page guide that takes you from "I think we're OK" to "I know we're ready."
Inside, you get:
A full hidden-hazards and child-safety part covering manure gas, machinery and PTO, water, grain, animals, play equipment and hayrides
The Hazard Walk, laid out so you can do it on your own farm this weekend
A printable toolkit of signs and worksheets, plus checklists you can tick off every morning
Planning for parking, toilets and handwashing, so your public zone works on your busiest day
Security, insurance questions and emergency plans, including a lost child and a storm
A step-by-step opening plan, so you know exactly what to do first, next and last before opening day
One evening with this guide and a clipboard could be the difference between a great season and a phone call you never forget.
Not sure where your farm stands? Take the free Farm Readiness Quiz. It takes a few minutes and shows you where to focus first.
And if you're still deciding how visitors could earn your farm a second income, grab my free ebook 150 Ways to Unlock Hidden Wealth From Your Farm. You'll discover:
Income ideas you can start with the land, buildings and skills you already have
Ideas for every season, so your income isn't stuck in one short window
Simple ways to choose the ideas that fit your farm, your budget and your time
P.S. Cassidy Charette climbed onto that wagon in Maine trusting that someone had checked the brakes. Every visitor who comes through your gate makes the same silent trust. Do your Hazard Walk this week, before your next guest arrives. It is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy.
Sources
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Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. This article is for general education only and is not legal, insurance or safety-engineering advice; laws and guidance differ by country, state and province, so check with a qualified local lawyer, insurer and safety adviser before you act.
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