Seven years on from losing toes on his foot after a farm accident, Aaron O’Donnell from Donegal still thinks more needs to be done about farm safety.

“When I was 13, I crushed my toes in the pickup hitch on the tractor. I wasn’t thinking about my safety at all. It was just about getting the job done as a quickly as possible,” Aaron (20) explained to the Irish Farmers Journal.

“I was hooking on a slurry tanker on the farm there and I rushing, and panicking too, I suppose. I thought I knew everything about everything and that nothing would happen to me but I was wrong. It all happened fierce quick,” Aaron said at the ABP farm safety stand at the BT Young Scientist exhibition on Thursday.

The accident has had a permanent impact on his life.

“I used to play sports; I used to box a lot but that’s all gone now. I can’t do that because my balance is very bad now. It's bad all the time,” Aaron said.

Since the accident, farm safety has been paramount on Aaron’s family farm as well as on the farms of his friends.

“The best way to learn farm safety is at an early age - the earlier the better. If kids can bring the message home then it’ll help, it creates impact. It’s all about farm safety on our farm. When I go to my friends’ farms too I’d be warning them about dangers. It all helps,” Aaron said.