This Farm Safety Week, farmers are being encouraged to download the app 'what3words' onto their mobile devices in case of an emergency.
The app has divided the globe into 57 trillion 3m x 3m squares, giving each square a unique combination of three words: a what3words address.
what3words is used by over 85 percent of UK emergency services, as well as breakdown providers such as the AA.
Just this week, farmer and social media influencer Farmer Tom encouraged others to think ahead when his idle tractor connected to a cultivator saved a neighbour's crop.
URGENT: If you have an idle tractor that isn’t connected to a cultivator right now, please stop everything & go & hook them up! A hero on our team saved a neighbours crop and probably most of ours due to some quick thinking & smart, speedy action.
— Farmer Tom ???? (@Farmer_Tom_UK) July 19, 2022
Well done @joe1411p pic.twitter.com/HRj0FrgMVU
A member of the team, Joe, spotted smoke a mile away on their neighbour's land, which turned out to be a electricity mast that had touched a tree.
Sparks landed on the ground and started a fire between their farm and Tom’s, an incident which could have potentially destroyed hundreds of acres of grain if the fire hadn’t been spotted.
Thinking fast on their feet, the team got out their tractor and managed to keep the fire under control by cultivating the ground, leaving bare earth which fire can’t travel as fast.
Praised by the fire brigade team for providing an exact location to the fire, Tom recommended what3words as an essential app for farmers to download.
"If you haven't got what3words, download it immediately. That took the fire brigade to the exact spot they needed to be," Farmer Tom said.
