Drought can lead to more than the summertime blues in farmers
Press Release
For Immediate Release: September 17, 2021
Contact: Jenn Patterson, MLitt, GPCAH Center Coordinator Jennifer-j-patterson@uiowa.edu, 319-335-4207
It comes as no surprise to Midwesterners that farmers are vulnerable to extreme weather events, but have you considered additional ways to combat occupational stress when it comes to drought planning for yourself and your ag community?
Jesse Berman, Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, and his team published a peer-reviewed paper in Science of The Total Environment looking at the association between drought conditions and increasing occupational stress among nearly 500 Midwest farmers over 2012-2015. Read the full paper at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149245.
Researchers examined the relationship between drought conditions and measures of job-related stress (job strain ratio). The study identified that the job strain ratio increased during drought conditions that occurred during the growing season. Increased stress related to drought was nearly four-fold greater than stress associated with other factors, such as reporting pain in multiple body parts.
While we know that lack of rain causes stress, this study quantifies the trend and lends evidence to the need for mental health interventions. The authors suggest including information on health risks and mitigation strategies during early phases of drought conditions, with increased mental health resources for vulnerable populations.
This understudied threat to public health is particularly important due to increasingly hotter and drier growing seasons in North America and could provide important data for federal early warning systems and preparedness policy.
“Incorporating health into drought early warning plans is a growing priority of the National Integrated Drought Information System,” Berman said. “Studies that evaluate health risks from extreme weather are incredibly important for protecting both current and future farming populations that suffer disproportionately from natural disaster events.”
Berman received a pilot grant from the Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health at the University of Iowa in 2019 to fund this study. GPCAH is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, U54 OH 007548).
For more information about how farmers get hurt and how to prevent these injuries, visit gpcah.org and select “resources” from the menu options.
Contact information: Jesse Berman, PhD, Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota berma186@umn.edu.
GPCAH Pilot Grants
The Center funds pilot projects (up to $30,000 per project) intended to promote innovative outreach and research efforts to prevent agricultural injury and illness. The pilot program supports both community-based organizations and academic researchers, especially new...
Core Course Objectives
Course Objectives
2022 Agricultural Safety and Health Core Course – Educational Objectives
At the completion of the course, the participant should be able to:
- Describe the incidence and impact of injury and illness among agricultural workers.
- Identify the hazards associated with agricultural transportation activities, with emphasis on tractors, ATVs/UTVs, and public roadway use.
- Outline current issues in production agriculture that impact health and safety.
- Recognize lung and skin illnesses that occur as a result of agricultural activities and apply strategies for their prevention.
- Identify hazards to youth living and working on farms and apply methods of prevention.
- Recognize routes of disease transmission and methods to prevent infection.
- Identify hazards associated with livestock production and recommend prevention strategies.
- Describe agricultural work factors associated with psychosocial stress and how they impact health, safety, and well-being.
- Describe exposures to physical agents and their associated health effects experienced by agricultural workers.
- Identify emergency rescue methods appropriate to agricultural hazards and events.
- Explain what role healthcare providers can have in reducing injuries and illness in agricultural populations.
- Recognize risk factors for upper extremity and low back musculoskeletal disorders among agricultural workers.
- Recognize pesticide exposure scenarios and recommend methods to control exposure.
- Observe farm activities and identify potential risk factors for injury and illness.
- Identify medications which may increase risk of injury to farmers or those in agriculture.
- Identify the appropriate use and selection of personal protective equipment for protection from agricultural hazards.
- Apply the hierarchy of controls to mitigate agricultural hazards and to promote safety and health in agricultural communities.
- Describe characteristics of agricultural workers that affect prevention efforts.
- Summarize available evidence linking agricultural work and cancer outcomes.
- Describe techniques providers can incorporate into their practice to address the unique healthcare needs of rural communities.
Questions
If you have questions about course content, please contact Kay Mohling, MA.
Preventing and controlling COVID-19 on the farm
Farms, ranches, and other production agriculture worksites are essential to powering America’s food supply chain. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has introduced up to date guidelines for workers continuing operations while remaining safe and healthy on the farm during the COVID-19 outbreak. Additionally, the Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health (GPCAH) offers COVID-19-related materials and resources for agricultural workers during these unprecedented times. We also offer helpful tips and resources to help pinpoint the latest CDC guidelines on the GPCAH Facebook and Twitter pages.
Agricultural worksites face unique challenges amidst the spread of COVID-19. Frequent close contact with coworkers in barns and fields, sharing of transportation and equipment, social gatherings in areas where community spread exists, and, in some cases, even shared living and eating spaces all make it difficult to maneuver within the new “normal” of preventative measures encouraged by the CDC.
Renée Anthony, professor of occupational and environmental health and GPCAH director said, “I encourage everyone involved with farming and agricultural production to visit the CDC’s website and read these important guidelines that promote health and safety practices for employers and their employees.”
The guidelines provide strategies to identify at-risk practices and to implement engineering controls, sanitation and cleaning procedures, administrative controls, all aimed to reduce the spread of COVID-19 among farmworkers. Recommendations for face coverings are explained to identify the benefits and limitations of these interim control options.
Also included are guidelines for employers who provide housing and transportation for their workers. This guidance recommends developing a safety plan, providing health screenings to identify for COVID-19 symptoms (including temperature checks and symptom reviews). It also recommends providing handwashing stations, increasing the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting shared equipment and spaces, and maintaining the critical 6-feet social distance practice even when wearing cloth face coverings. The guidelines also recommend when to consider adding physical barriers in close quarters, reducing crew sizes, staggering work shifts and break times, and physically alternating worker placement within crop rows.
“It is essential for workers to know that cloth face coverings are not respirators and do not protect people from exposure. However, these coverings do help contain the spread of respiratory droplets, protecting those working around you,” Anthony said. “As summer approaches, farmers also need to be aware that these masks can increase the risk of heat-related illness, so an increase in water and work breaks is necessary.”
Anthony also encourages farm workers and producers to visit GPCAH.org to access the COVID-19 resource page and FAQ, suggest additional topics, and ask any questions you may have about interpreting the CDC guidelines.
Credits:
Produced by the Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health
Story: Jenn Patterson, Communications Coordinator (jennifer-j-patterson@uiowa.edu; 319-594-2704)
Photography: Shutterstock.com
The mission of the GPCAH is to prevent agricultural injury and illness and improve safety and health among agricultural communities.
To accomplish this mission, the Center advances knowledge through scientific research and prevents agricultural injury and illness through education, outreach, and intervention programs.
The GPCAH is funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The NIOSH Agricultural Centers were established as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) / NIOSH Agricultural Health and Safety Initiative in 1990. The Centers were established by cooperative agreement to conduct research, education, and prevention projects to address the nation’s pressing agricultural health and safety problems. Geographically, the Centers are distributed throughout the nation to be responsive to the agricultural health and safety issues unique to the different regions.