[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 37 (Monday, September 18, 1995)]
[Pages 1560-1561]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6822--National Farm Safety and Health Week, 1995

September 13, 1995

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    America's agricultural productivity is a gift to our Nation and to 
people everywhere.

[[Page 1561]]

Using innovative techniques and the latest technology, our farmers, 
ranchers, and agricultural workers provide enough food and fiber to 
satisfy our needs and those of millions of people around the globe. 
However, we too often forget that farming can be a difficult and 
dangerous profession.
    Agricultural workers are exposed daily to the risks associated with 
operating powerful machinery, managing livestock, working and travelling 
in adverse weather conditions, and performing countless other demanding 
tasks, often miles away from emergency medical care. Sadly, children and 
young people on our farms and ranches are particularly vulnerable to 
these hazards and more.
    The simplest safety tool we have at hand is education. By word and 
by example, we must teach each new generation of Americans about the 
critical importance of knowledge, caution, and vigilance in farming and 
ranching activities. Wearing protective clothing and gear, learning the 
safety features that manufacturers build into equipment, and staying 
alert to possible dangers when working with livestock, chemicals, 
machinery, and vehicles--all of these measures can help to ensure 
longer, healthier lives for America's agricultural workers.
    As important as education is to the safety and well-being of our 
agricultural workers, we must remember that quality health care is just 
as critical. We must strengthen our resolve to provide the citizens of 
our rural areas with high-quality, affordable, and accessible health 
care if we are truly to meet their needs.
    By setting aside a special week each year to focus on the need for 
improved safety and health in our Nation's agricultural industry, we 
demonstrate to all of our agricultural workers that we value their lives 
and livelihood, that we appreciate their unsurpassed productivity, and 
that we honor their determined spirit.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 
17 through September 23, 1995, as ``National Farm Safety and Health 
Week.'' I call upon government agencies, businesses, and professional 
associations that serve our agricultural sector to strengthen efforts to 
promote safety and health measures among our Nation's farm and ranch 
workers. I ask these workers to take advantage of educational programs 
and technical innovations that can help them to avoid injury and 
illness. Finally, I call upon the citizens of our Nation to reflect on 
the bounty we enjoy thanks to the labor of agricultural workers across 
the land. Join me in renewing our commitment to make their health and 
safety a national priority.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day 
of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and twentieth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:06 a.m., September 
14, 1995]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
September 15.