Duration: 10/01/2025 to 09/30/2030

Administrative Advisor(s):

NIFA Reps:

Non-Technical Summary

The agricultural workplace is dangerous, with a higher rate of injuries and fatalities than other industries. Farmers and farmworkers face daily risks from machines, animals, exposure to airborne contaminants, noise, and other physical and mental stressors. These challenges impact well-being but also contribute to labor shortages and economic strain. Improving safety in agriculture is crucial to protecting lives, maintaining productivity, and supporting communities.

We aim to make agriculture safer for everyone involved, particularly those in underserved communities. We strive to tackle emerging risks and opportunities associated with new mechanical and digital technologies and address issues like heat stress and zoonotic diseases. We also focus on supporting farmworker safety, occupational health, and mental health and increasing access to and engagement in safety programs.

The target audiences, including farmers, farmworkers, their families, rural communities, educators, healthcare professionals, and policymakers, play a role in improving safety and health in agriculture. By focusing on these aspects, we can protect workers, reduce economic costs, and make agricultural jobs more appealing and sustainable.

We plan to achieve outcomes through formal and informal education, including Extension and outreach education, applied research, and incorporation of a multifaceted prevention approach that includes education, training, promotion of engineered interventions, public policy, and combinations of methods. By collaborating with safety organizations, developing training programs, and building networks, we can create a safer environment for all agricultural workers. Our activities reduce risk, support underserved populations, and build the next generation of agricultural safety experts, ultimately leading to a healthier, more resilient industry.

Statement of Issues and Justification

Agriculture: A High-Risk Industry

Agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries in the U.S. and worldwide, with a fatality rate at least six times higher than other industries combined. The leading causes of these fatalities often involve tractors, self-propelled farm machinery, confined spaces, falls, or contact with large animals. Farmers, ranchers, farmworkers, and others working in agriculture face numerous health risks, including physical hazards such as loud noise, prolonged sun exposure, and equipment vibration; airborne toxins like manure gases, grain dust, pesticides, and fertilizers; and biological risks such as zoonotic diseases and pathogens. Agricultural producers and workers are also exposed to a range of stressors that significantly impact their well-being, including fatigue, distraction, suicide risk, and occupational hazards due to economic pressures.

Health and Safety Challenges

These health and safety challenges lead to pain, suffering, reduced productivity, and significant economic costs. They also contribute to the ongoing labor shortage on farms and ranches, which directly impacts productivity and profitability. As farmworkers become more aware of the unique health and safety risks associated with agriculture, they may view the work as dull, dirty, or dangerous, making it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain skilled employees.

Primary Stakeholders

The primary stakeholders of this work include farmers, ranchers, farmworkers, their families, and rural communities. Additionally, stakeholders encompass agricultural service providers, educators, healthcare professionals, and policymakers who are invested in improving health and safety outcomes in agriculture. Migrant and immigrant farmworkers, as well as underserved and underrepresented communities, are also key stakeholders who will benefit significantly from ongoing research and support efforts.

Ongoing Research and Support

For over 70 years, faculty and staff at Land Grant universities have led research and educational initiatives to address these issues, providing essential support to farmers, their families, hired workers, and rural service providers. The NCERA 197 committee has played a crucial role in this effort for more than 20 years, fostering collaboration, mentorship, and specialization among states. This group helps set priorities, supports professional development, and ensures that emerging health and safety concerns are effectively addressed.

In the next five years, the committee will emphasize expanding access to and participation in programs designed for traditionally underserved and underrepresented communities. This includes migrant and immigrant farmworkers, producers, farm families, and workers served by the nation's 1890 and 1994 Land Grant universities, as well as other groups who have not been adequately served in the past.

Objectives

Procedures and Activities

Describe the procedures and activities that will contribute to achieving each of the objectives. Cite milestones if appropriate. Briefly summarize the procedures that will be used to address each of the objectives. Enough information should be included to enable the reviewers to evaluate the approach and to discern joint planning and coordination by the activity's participants, in other words, show that this is a collective effort to achieve objectives.

 

As described in the objectives - our work has four central themes and purposes.  The detailed procedures and activities under each of these four objectives are described here:

 

Obj. 1 - Address emerging and novel hazards and opportunities in agricultural safety and health.

 

Agriculture is changing rapidly, and in the May 2024 NCERA 197 meeting held at Purdue University, the group undertook a comprehensive analysis of the key, high priority, high risk areas and hazards that are emerging. In some cases, there is already considerable work by one or more of the states, but where the majority of states feel the need to do more.

 

After brainstorming and discussing these emerging and novel hazard-based needs, the group went through a quantitative evaluation based on the expressed needs of producers, agricultural service providers and other stakeholders and clientele their state as well as the interests of committee participants and the likely ability to generate funding to support work around each area. 

 

 

• Emerging Technologies and Automation

 

1. Committee members who now work on this issue will develop Extension materials and programs, and it will conduct research to further efforts and practices to identify and mitigate novel safety risks associated with emerging technologies. This includes automation (machines and processes), autonomous machines (tractors, harvesters, feeders, etc.), robots (specialty crops, animal care, milking, etc.), and other tech-intensive tools, machines, and methods. Further, the group acknowledges that these technologies can be leveraged to reduce human occupational exposure to hazards and improve overall safety. An excellent base for this work that has been led through the “SAFER AG” effort involving leadership from NCERA-197 committee members from the Universities of Illinois, Wisconsin, Utah State, Florida, Cal-Davis and others, as well as NCERA-197 active external partners that include the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. Thus far, the cohort of NCERA-197 members who have worked cooperatively in this area have published a series of recommendations-based papers from the SAFER AG event. A second major workshop will be held in late 2024. The NCERA-197 committee and the communication and sharing infrastructure it allows for will continue to be used to develop Extension and outreach materials that come from these efforts and from published literature. In addition, workgroups that are connected to these efforts will work together on funding proposals to USDA-NIFA, NIOSH, and NSF. NCERA-197 members will continue to participate in professional societies and organizations who develop design and safety standards (ASABE) and others who focus on best practices including the International Society for Agricultural Safety and Health (ISASH) and the more industry-partnership focused group, the Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America (ASHCA). 


2. The NCERA-197 committee recognizes and shares the idea that many of the technologies in agriculture either in the early stages of adoption or being developed by both the large agricultural machinery companies and startup companies present new forms of risk/hazard, but that many of these technologies present tremendous safety-related opportunities. Members will continue to pursue and build research programs through competitive proposals for work that leverages opportunities presented through new technology-based tools methods, such as automation, autonomy, and robots recognizing that we can reduce human risk by reducing exposure to operators (replacing human operation with automation). For example, if a field or orchard sprayer operator can be replaced through autonomous operation, we reduce the exposures connected to pesticides, UV light exposure, and heat. Similarly, wearable technologies such as smartwatches, clothing, sensors, and other devices worn on or carried by a person can be used for real-time data collection for issues like heat stress, heart rate, vibration, noise exposure, or UV (sunlight) exposure. These and other novel tools including vision/image recognition sensors, generative AI, and tools will be pursued through research and development as described in the previous section as well as ongoing multi-state development and sharing of related Extension materials.

 

1.  Heat-Related and Environmental Risks




1. NCERA-197 committee members are keenly interested , based on our topical and hazard-based prioritization process in issues related to heat stress, a changing climate, and closely related issues that include occupational exposures to smoke (such as via the 2023 wildfires and ongoing incidents nationally).  As of late 2024, OSHA is pursuing a heat-related safety and health standard for agricultural workers. The proposed standard includes both best practices for workers but also administrative strategies and requirements for employers such as required rest breaks, provision of shade, record keeping, and training. This issue connects to all members of the NCERA-197 committee. Even the northern Midwestern states are facing prolonged periods of high heat and relative humidity, impacting agricultural workers and production. The NCERA-197 network will work across states, encouraging partnerships that will develop and “fine-tune” region-specific strategies to reduce heat-related illnesses and injuries in agriculture. It will promote the adoption of specific heat injury prevention guidelines, and develop new materials and programs to be used in Extension programs. It will also pursue cooperative research proposals for work on issues such as monitoring the heat stress and other impacts of PPE during environmental events (such as the wildfires) and develop and/or evaluate new types of devices that can be used to supplement cooling (such as clothing) or monitor heat stress risk (through wearables).

 

1.  Roadway Safety and Machine Visibility




1. The issue of farm machine/motor vehicle collisions on rural and nearby suburban roadways continues to be a major issue that compounds the high rate of injuries and fatalities both for agricultural workers as well as the general public. This issue is exacerbated due to increasing size of machines, traffic levels, and the continued growth of the “rural/urban interface as cities and suburbs grow into rural agricultural areas. NCERA-197 members will be involved in continuing safety efforts in several ways. We will continue to represent ag safety and health interests in the development of improved standards for machine lighting and marking through ASABE. The committee will participate in or lead research efforts to improve machine visibility through enhanced lighting and marking technologies such as higher visibility LED lights and lighting patterns. The group will also work through Extension programming efforts to promote the usage of ASABE lighting and marking standard (ASABE 279) which is now embedded into federal law for newer (post- July 2017) machines while also being cognizant of the discrepancies that exist between state regulations and federal.

 

 

• ATV Safety

 

1. Several states with representatives on the NCERA-197 committee have done focused research on all terrain vehicle use, best practices, and machine design. This work is critical given the important stability and controllability issues associated with ATVs and the growing use of utility task vehicles (UTV) on farms and ranches. The committee will continue to work together to share information through its activities and ongoing work within ISASH, ASABE and other organizations. This includes multi-state developing and sharing of educational curricula and Extension/outreach materials and cooperative work on UTV and ATV research that focuses on design, eventual autonomous functionality, and other risk factors and hazards. 

 

 

•  Zoonotic and Emerging Infectious Diseases

 

1. The majority of emerging infectious diseases worldwide are considered zoonotic in that they can be shared between animals and humans. An obvious example is the different strains of influenza which mutate in different parts of the world as they are passed between species (poultry, pigs, humans, etc.). Zoonotic disease concerns are greater now as a result of climate change, extending the range of insects and other vectors.  Farmers, farmworkers, and others who work in close proximity to animals are at particularly high risk. Historically, the NCERA-197 committee has not had an explicit focus in this area, but members are called upon by colleagues in veterinary science, animal science, public health, epidemiology, medicine, and other disciplines to be part of multidisciplinary teams doing research or creating Extension materials.  Increasingly, there is the need to provide educational material and intervention curricula in non-English languages.  During this five year period, emphasis will be on encouraging NCERA-197 members to share experiences, materials, and best practices for multidisciplinary collaboration with various partner organizations and academic disciplines. The development of multi-state research proposals will be encouraged. The committee will also work to define the interface that exists between zoonotic disease, climate change, and other key public health issues of global concern, and through these efforts to define the key opportunities and core competencies for agricultural safety and health professionals who wish to work in this field.

 

Obj. 2 - Foster agricultural safety and health research, outreach, and Extension partnerships to expand program impact.

 

 

• Health and Safety Collaborations

• NCERA-197 members have historically been deeply involved as members and as leaders in various organizations and associations that have a primary or secondary focus in agricultural safety and health. Groups mentioned previously include ASABE, ASHCA, and ISASH. The group’s members will also continue to build connections and explore partnerships and funding through their connections with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Agricultural Safety and Health Centers. This connection to the country’s 12 ASH centers is vital as the majority of CDC-NIOSH funds are allocated through these centers sometimes through subawards to projects and activities at other land grant universities or institutions with a strong focus on ag safety and health. We will also continue to support and build membership and participation in ASABE. This organization is a key to information sharing, particularly in areas where there are engineering/design solutions to agricultural health and injury-related concerns. It is also critical that NCERA-197 continue to encourage the creation and ongoing review of important engineering design and safety standards. This includes standards for some of the key “hazards” and conditions from the previous section including automated and autonomous machines, heat and environmental control and comfort for workers (through ventilation, system design, etc.), roadway travel of agricultural machines, UTV and ATV safety and design, and zoonotic disease detection, control, and mitigation. Likewise, we will encourage member involvement in the development and review of ISO (International Standards Organizations) standards as many standards that ASABE members work on actually end up having international significance through ISO and input from the agricultural safety and health “practice” and academic discipline is sometimes missing from those ISO processes.

 

 

1.  Partnerships with One-Health Focused Organizations 




1. NCERA-197 members will focus on building new connections with groups that have a primary focus on prevention and protection from emerging zoonotic disease exposures and related health risks connected to farmer, rancher, and worker health. This new set of connections (some members are already engaged) will serve to better connect our community to veterinarians, public health researchers, and other similar groups, allowing us to participate and even lead research and Extension activities that are designed to tackle emerging zoonotic disease exposures and related health risks in agriculture.

 

 

• Collaboration and Activity Leadership with Regional Farm and Ranch Stress Center

 

1. USDA-NIFA funds the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN) active in  all areas of the country. In the North Central Region the network (based out of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) has engaged all states in the region with considerable involvement and “activity leadership” from NCERA-197 committee members. We expect this connection to continue, pending any type of ongoing funding (to be determined), and because of the strong connections and linkages between stress which is a risk factor for agricultural injury as well as health problems and concerns. We will look to maintain and support and hopefully grow this involvement through a combination of robust Extension activity as well as pursuing research related to farm and ranch mental health both as a condition itself but also as a risk factor for injury and health concerns.

 

 

• Support and Expand Efforts Connected to Farm and Ranch Emergency Preparedness and Response

 

1. Effective preparedness and response is an essential component of agricultural safety and health and loss reduction from unexpected or expected events. Not all safety and health issues are completely predictable and preventable, so an overall loss reduction strategy is to respond to events quickly and in a planful manner to keep losses to a minimum. Members of NCERA-197 will continue to pursue research opportunities through competitive grants (USDA, NIOSH, NSF, and others) to enhance emergency medical service access through surveillance tools like GIS mapping and educational efforts that address rural disparities in EMS services, in part because of gaps in broadband access, resource availability (for training and equipment). In numerous states, NCERA-197 members are involved in development of training programs for EMTs, paramedics, and other local emergency medical service volunteers and professionals. This work will continue and member states will participate in updates to training materials that were once developed by the NRAES publications unit about three decades ago.


2. NCERA-197 members are now somewhat involved in the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN). The degree of involvement has fluctuated over the past 5-15 years, though at this time, only one of the EDEN state points of contact is an active NCERA-197 Committee member. While EDEN focuses more on preparedness and response to natural disasters, to points are in order. First, farm and ranch safety issues that result in injury often do occur during extreme or disaster conditions (fire, floods, heat, etc.). Additionally, many of the occupational health issues that NCERA-197 committee members have expertise in (respiratory disease, skin cancers, chemical exposures) are also tied to natural disasters and the goals of EDEN. The second major overlap is in the area of zoonotic disease outbreaks. EDEN historically has had some focus on biosecurity education and other measures to protect animals from disease outbreaks, while NCERA-197 is more focused on human disease implications and best practices.  Since a stated goal of the current EDEN three-year strategic plan includes: “Develop a recruitment strategy to encompass more participation from land grant universities in each region, agencies, and potential partners…” We hope in our NCERA-197 work to spend some time exploring the possible connections and synergies with EDEN. This will occur through more purposeful conversations at EDEN annual conferences, inviting EDEN leadership to participate in NCERA-197 events, and finding other ways to create synergies. We will also work as a committee to make sure all practitioners who focus on agricultural safety and health have a good understanding of the workings of various tate, regional, and national agencies and groups that focus on emergencies and disaster preparedness and response as a core competency (see coming section on mentoring and professional development).

 

Obj. 3 - Serve new and underserved agricultural audiences.

 

• Continue to Expand Partnerships with Institutions Serving Underserved Audiences

 

1. In the last project period (2020-2025), we have made modest progress in engaging the 1890s institutions by engaging in their academic-based associations and organizations. This includes participation in bimonthly meetings of the Association of Extension Administrators of the 1890 Land Grant Universities, and the symposium of the Association of 1890 Research Directors. In a few of the states represented, there have been efforts through research project proposals, Extension programs, significant AgrAbility effort and other activities to engage the 1890s. Similarly, the group has engaged in conversation involving individuals (faculty and administrative leaders) from the Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program (FRTEP) and 1994 institutions. In a few states, there have been Extension program efforts in various areas (bison safety, machinery and harvest equipment safety) during the last two years. Still, we do not yet have a clearly identifiable set of outcomes from these initiatives.  During the coming project period (2025-2030) and beginning in 2025, we will have specific, strategic, engaged conversations within NCERA-197 on significantly and measurably increasing our engagement with the 1890 and 1994 institutions. This is likely to take the form of two subcommittees that will focus efforts on identifying and engaging key leaders and other individuals; encouraging their participation in NCERA-197 and our engagement in their initiatives as is appropriate; and other ways to grow our connections. IT will also be critical that we develop plans to attend in-person meetings when possible and/or to engage members of these institutions in NCERA-197 gatherings. Possible outcomes yo be determined by two-way engagement and conversation could include, but are not limited to: continued engagement in the development of funding proposals, collaborative work in Extension program activities, and involvement of 1890 and 1994 faculty and staff in the objective four activities connected to mentorship and capacity development in agricultural safety and health.

 

 

•  Support for Immigrant and Migrant Farmworkers

 

1. There is strongly growing recognition of the role of hired labor as operations get larger, the ownership demographics of farms and ranches age and have less access to immediate family labor, and the work becomes more intense. This includes immigrant workers from countries like Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti, as well as other Central and South America countries and parts of Asia, Europe, and Africa. The NCERA-197 committee will strongly encourage the building of collaborative partnerships and engagement with these underserved communities. We will develop a whitepaper that documents “best practices” for agricultural safety and health research and Extension programming to include specific needs including language, authentic stakeholder engagement, navigating partnerships that bridge employer/employee relationships, and solid practices around program planning and evaluation. Some of this work has occurred as a starting point by NCERA-197 members including engagement by immigrant worker groups in the last 3-4 years (interest was accelerated during COVID-19). And demonstrating the importance of grounding safety and health programming around holistic public-health based models like the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Health Belief Model.


2. We will also plan for at least two significant research or integrated research/Extension project proposals to come from multiple members of the NCERA-197 network. The specific topics will be determined by the partners, but based on Objective 1 priorities, may include proposed activities around heat stress; zoonotic occupational disease/health; and/or safety impacts of automation and autonomy including safety needs where there are mixed levels of automation on individual farms ranging from traditional to totally autonomous machines.

 

 

•  Address and Plan for Varying Levels of  Broadband and Digital Literacy and Access

 

1. Work in NCERA-197 member states and the USDA Census of Agriculture around broadband access and use among farm and ranch operators shows that adoption and use of broadband connectivity, computers, smartphones, tablets, apps, and a range of digital tools and practices has permeated around 80% of operations. The remaining 20% are influenced by issues such as affordable access (including lack of cellular or land-based connectivity); age; and comfort level with the technology. In some instances, access is based on unique cultural or religious characteristics and beliefs. Yet, with many of our NCERA-197 institutions, Internet-delivered content has become the norm, and the majority of “traditional content” that has been around (like ROPS on tractors, PTO safety, etc.) is almost an Internet commodity. NCERA-197 will discuss and develop a short recommendations document on information dissemination to groups that lack access or for which access is not practical/possible based on language, religious beliefs, housing status, or affordability. This document will be shared with agriculture and natural resource leaders and Extension leaders in the region for consideration as organizations plan for future Internet presence practices as well as the implementation of new digital means of reaching and communicating with Extension clientele.

Expected Outcomes and Impacts

Projected Participation

View Appendix E: Participation

Educational Plan

Organization/Governance

Literature Cited

Attachments

Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

AL, IL, MN, MO, OK, PA, UT, WI

Non Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety