Crowds on the second day seemed bolstered by warmer weather conditions and the event was attended by Primary Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff and Premier Will Hodgman.

Mr Rockliff took the opportunity to launch the new farm safety guide Farming Safely in Tasmania to help address the disproportionate number of people who die or who are injured as a result of farm operations.

The guide is part of the government’s $435,000 Safe Farming Tasmania program.

“The farm is a unique work environment where family homes are often part of a workplace.  Employees work in challenging conditions, exposed to the elements or in charge of heavy machinery,” Mr Rockliff said.

The booklet and USB was designed during on-farm consultations, presentations to students and farm managers and participation at trade shows and conferences.

For every 100,000 farm workers in Australia there are 15 deaths compared to 2 per 100,000 workers in every other industry in the country.

The guide is available on the WorkSafe Tasmania and DPIPWE websites.

Premier Will Hodgman met with the volunteers behind the Agfest event to mark National Volunteers Week, that begins on Monday.

According to the recent State of Volunteering report, volunteering provided a total benefit of $4.9 billion to the Tasmanian economy, with Tasmanian employers enjoying $2.1 billion of productivity benefits as a result of their employees volunteering.

The report also found that Tasmanians have donated around 7.1 million hours of volunteers work over 12 months across a wide range of areas,  including emergency services, health and aged care, youth development, sport and recreation, arts and culture and the environment. 

“This week I moved a motion in parliament to recognise the amazing work of volunteers around the state, and I would like to thank all of Tasmania’s hardworking volunteers for their selfless and tireless contributions to the state,” Mr Hodgman said. 

“I would like to especially thank Rural Youth Tasmania for their amazing work in setting up yet another successful Agfest. They are a great local example of volunteering and the achievements that can be attained through volunteering,” Mr Hodgman said.

The theme for National Volunteer Week for 2016 is ‘Give Happy, Live Happy’ and encourages all Tasmanians to give whatever time they can by participating in volunteering.

Agfest 2016 continues on Saturday at Quercus Park for its final day.