BEHAVIOURS like working long hours, skipping breaks and pushing through fatigue should not be worn as a badge of honour, as they put lives at risk. This is according to New South Wales cotton farmer, Gavin Dal Broi, who urged the industry to rethink the culture of pushing through as part Farmsafe Australia's National Farm Safety Week campaign. 

Dal Broi, who operates a 2000 hectare cotton enterprise west of Griffith, argued the biggest risk on farms was not always machinery. He said it was the pressure farmers put on themselves and the belief that every job had to be finished at any cost. 

"Fatigue and pressure in agriculture... we wear it like a badge of honour," Dal Broi said.

"For generations we've prided ourselves on working long hours and pushing through, but sometimes the safest thing you can do is slow down or take a break."

Dal Broi said he understood the realities of farming under pressure, but emphasised taking shortcuts wasn't worth the risk. 

"We've got incredibly short planting windows and weather events that can change everything," he said.

"There's always a reason to rush a job. It could be irrigation water running down a channel that needs attention or a machinery breakdown 80 kilometres away.

"In those moments it's easy to speed. It's easy to leave the seatbelt off because you think it'll only take a minute.

"But you have to stop and remember that if something goes wrong, you might not be going home to see your kids."

Dal Broi encouraged farmers to recognise the standards set during the busiest periods often became the standards others follow.

"When speed becomes more important than safety, it sends a message that safety isn't valued," he said. 

"What you do during busy periods sets the standard for everyone else. People copy what they see."

Dal Broi believed one of agriculture's biggest misconceptions was that slowing down costs time, when sometimes it was actually the fastest way to get the job done. 

"You rush, you push machinery harder than you should, something breaks down and suddenly you've lost hours or even days," he said. 

He argued safer decisions were also better business decisions.

"Profitability is incredibly important to every farmer and sometimes it's seen as more important than getting the job done safely," he said.

"But in the long run, getting the job done safely is actually more profitable for the business."

STRONG SAFETY LEADERSHIP IN BUSY TIMES

Farmsafe Australia chair, Felicity Richards, said busy periods were when strong safety leadership mattered most.

"Agriculture is full of pressure points; weather windows, machinery breakdowns, staffing shortages and long days," Richards said.

"But those are also the moments when people are watching how leaders respond.

"When someone chooses to slow down, wear a seatbelt, stop to reassess conditions or speak up about fatigue, they're showing others that safety comes before speed.

"The standards we set during the busiest and most challenging times are often the ones that shape workplace culture for years to come."

Farmsafe Australia's National Farm Safety Week campaign runs from 19–25 July 2026. For more information and resources, visit the Farmsafe Australia website.