Assessment of the condition of Iowa augers, auger-related injuries, and farmers' perceptions about auger-related injuries

This study provides an insight into auger-related injuries, Iowa farmers' perceptions of auger-related injuries and the condition of augers used in Iowa agriculture. Specific auger-related injury data (437 records) from the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) was examined and interpreted. The most likely body part injured was the finger and 11:00 A.M., 3:00 P.M., and 5:00 P.M. were the times of the day with the highest number of injuries reported. In addition, a survey was administered to 400 farmers to ascertain their awareness of auger-related injuries and to determine the condition of their augers. Farmers' perceptions of what body part is most likely to be injured by an auger and the level of severity expected from those injuries coincided with injury records from 1993 to 1997. A total 34% of the primary and secondary augers reported were unshielded or without guarding. This assessment provides insight for development of intervention countermeasures to reduce auger-related injuries.     

An insight into the grain auger injury problem in Queensland, Australia

Grain auger-related injuries were studied by examining the injury data obtained from the Queensland worker's compensation database. Close to 60% of 52 claimants were male employees in the 20 to 34 age group. Fingers, hands, and arms were affected in 65% of all cases, and the auger flighting was involved in 60% of claims. The severity of auger-related injuries is reflected in the high average cost of claims and number of working days lost, which were more than double the all-industries values. Injuries involving the auger flighting are three times more costly (in time and money) than the all-industries values. More claims were made during winter and towards the end of summer, with the majority of injuries occurring in the animal industries. Most incidents occurred in the early or middle periods of a working shift. In addition, two focus group meetings were held to gain a broader perspective of the grain auger injury picture in Queensland, Australia. Focus group participants suggested that the operator's state of mind and attitude to safety are important, while the auger's age, type, and shielding were cited as important risk factors. They suggested that older augers are less likely to be adequately shielded, and mobile augers are most likely to be involved in injury events. The information gained from this study is being used to develop strategies to help farmers minimize injuries associated with the use of grain augers.     

Measurement of operator exposure to power take-off driven augers

Prior studies at Purdue University have shown that PTO entanglements occur most frequently on portable grain augers. A research project was conducted to measure operator exposure to PTO components and document work patterns during the use of grain augers. Information on the methodologies used to measure operator exposure is presented along with data on exposure to conventional grain augers while unloading from trucks and wagons, extended dump hopper augers, and swing-away hopper augers. It was found that operators had a higher exposure time to operating PTO components when the driveline was located on the right side of the grain auger, as one stands facing the hopper end of the auger, than on the left side of the grain auger when using conventional grain augers and grain trucks. It was determined that this added exposure was due to the position of the driver's door of the truck, the natural path of the driver from the operator's seat to the rear of the truck, and the movement of the truck body into the workspace when tilted. Of all scenarios examined, operators had the highest exposure time when using conventional grain augers and gravity-flow grain wagons. Operators had no recorded exposure time when operating swing-away hopper augers. Recommendations were made based on the observations of this study for reducing operator exposure through increased awareness of hazards and reconfiguration of the way augers are incorporated into grain handling operations.     

Case reports of on-site investigations of auger-related farm injuries

Previous reports have indicated that injuries involving augers (screw conveyors) are a serious problem in agriculture, but to date on-site engineering inspections linking injuries to mechanical and procedural aspects have not been available. This article details four events involving injuries as the result of being entangled in auger flighting. In each report, the circumstances surrounding the injury event are outlined, and the machinery involved is evaluated in terms of its compliance with current safety standards. In three of the four instances, the machinery did not conform to current guarding standards or to safety sign standards. In these three cases, injuries were preventable with improved guarding according to ASAE Standards. In the other case, the machine complied with ASAE Standards, but the injury could have been prevented with improved guarding of the auger flighting.     

Farmers' perception of environmental degradation and their adoption of improved management practices in Alxa,China

The environment and the natural resource base have been severely degraded in Alxa League, western Inner Mongolia, China, over the past half‐century. This study reports surveys that reveal farmers' perceptions of environmental degradation and their adoption of improved management practices in this poor and remote desert region. Surveys were made in villages that had been engaged in a large environmental rehabilitation and management project [Alxa League environmental rehabilitation and management project (ALERMP)] and those that had not. The survey results showed that farmers perceived environmental degradation in terms of increased frequency and severity of sandstorms, movement of sand dunes, deterioration of pasture quality and declines in groundwater depth and quality. Farmers had low adoption rates for improved management practices, ranging from zero to a maximum of 28·5 per cent for the most adopted practice. A Tobit model analysis showed that the education level of farmers, the availability of extension services and whether farmers had participated in ALERMP were highly significantly correlated with the farmers' perception of degradation. The farmers' adoption of improved management practices was found to be significantly correlated only with whether they had participated in ALERMP. This shows that specific extension activities of the type possible in large and well‐funded projects are required if farmers are to recognise degradation and adopt improved management practices. The promotion of farmer education and strengthening of extension services are recommended as the best policy strategies for improving environmental management in this region. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Risk factors for occupational injuries among full-time farmers in Finland

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the frequency of and farm management-related risk factors for occupational injuries among full-time farmers. A computer-assisted telephone interview was conducted among randomly selected self-employed full-time farmers (n = 1182; 911 male and 271 female), The response rate was 86%. Two-thirds of the respondents raised dairy or beef cattle. Nearly 16% of the farmers had experienced one or more occupational injuries requiring medical consultation during the past 12 months; the total number of such injuries was 222. Injuries were more common among male (17 injuries/100 person-years) than female farmers (13 injuries/ 100 person-years). The injuries occurred most frequently in animal husbandry work (n = 97). Falling or slipping was the most common mechanism of injury. Poisson regression with a stepwise (forward) model selection procedure identified the following risk factors for occupational injuries: male gender, younger age, cooperation with other farmers, perceived high accident risk, and stress symptoms. The adjusted rate ratios for these risk factors ranged from 1.40 to 1.96. This study indicates that interventions are needed, particularly among male farmers in their early years of full-time farm operation. At this stage of life, heavy financial burden and stress while establishing and expanding production may contribute to injuries. To reduce stress and related injuries, we recommend guidance for farmers regarding the organization and management of farm work.     

Texas entry-year agriculture teachers' perceptions, practices, and preparation regarding safety and health in agricultural education

The purpose of this study was to gather benchmark data for the assessment of the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding agricultural safety issues and curricula held by Texas agricultural teachers with less than two full years of teaching experience (entry-year teachers). Seventy-four of 118 well-distributed teachers responded to this survey. Researchers concluded that more females were entering a traditionally male-dominated field. Overall, teachers addressed safety within units of instruction rather than as separate units. The most useful forms of new teaching resources that this group of teachers would like to see produced were safety videos and study guides, and class demonstration/simulation activities. There was a significant difference in rankings between teachers less than 26 years old and teachers more than 26 years old regarding the usefulness of transparencies as a new teaching resource (F = 5.00, p = 0.0268). Few teachers were currently CPR and first aid certified, even though most had received training and completed a general safety and/or health related course while in college. Teachers generally agreed philosophically with most practices and exhibited personal beliefs consistent with proper safety preparedness and practice in agricultural settings. However, many of these teachers failed to practice what was expected of safe tractor operators, such as wearing safety belts and allowing younger drivers to operate the equipment.     

Farm safety issues in Old Order Anabaptist communities: unique aspects and innovative intervention strategies

The Amish and other Old Order Anabaptists have been inseparably linked with agriculture since coming to America. However few efforts have been identified which analyze the issues involved with Old Order Anabaptist farm injuries or present best practices for addressing these problems. As part of an effort to develop culturally appropriate and effective injury prevention strategies for use within the Old Order Anabaptist community, this article identifies important cultural issues that should be considered in understanding and attempting to reduce farm injures in this population, summarizes statistics concerning farm-related fatalities among Old Order Anabaptists, and discusses methods which have been effectively used to address farm injuries within these communities. In the statistical analysis, 92 cases were identified that were classified as being work-related or occurring in a farm work-related setting during the period 1980 to 2000. Approximately 64% of the identified cases were children 15 years and under; and approximately 77% were male. Run-over incidents were the most frequent primary cause of the fatal injuries, while animal-related behavior was the most frequent secondary cause, reflecting agricultural practices that remain highly dependent upon the use of horses and mules. The authors believe evidence suggests that certain Old Order Anabaptist choices concerning farm safety issues may be directly related to their socio-religious beliefs, and that effective intervention strategies must also be sensitive to socio-religious beliefs.     

Injuries in the Iowa Certified Safe Farm Study

The aims of this article are to assess injury characteristics and risk factors in the Iowa Certified Safe Farm (CSF) program and to evaluate the effectiveness of CSF for reducing injuries. This intervention program includes a health screening, on-farm safety review, education, and monetary incentives. Cohorts of farmers in an intervention group (n = 152) and control group (n = 164) in northwestern Iowa were followed for a three-year period. During the follow-up, there were 318 injuries (42/100 person-years), of which 112 (15/100 person-years) required professional medical care. The monetary cost of injuries was $51,764 ($68 per farm per year). There were no differences in the self-reported injury rates and costs between the intervention and control groups. Raising livestock, poor general health, and exposures to dust and gas, noise, chemicals and pesticides, and lifting were among risk factors for injury. Most injuries in this study were related to animals, falls from elevation, slips/trips/falls, being struck by or struck against objects, lifting, and overexertion. Machinery was less prominent than generally reported in the literature. Hurry, fatigue, or stress were mentioned as the primary contributing factor in most injuries. These findings illustrate the need for new interventions to address a multitude of hazards in the farm work environment as well as management and organization of farm work.     

Adoption of eco-friendly soil-management practices by smallholder farmers in Shandong Province of China

Land degradation and agricultural pollution have been of great concern around the world in recent years, especially in developing countries. It is necessary to expand some eco-friendly soil-management practices to address serious environmental issues. Using data from 646 small-farm households in Shandong, China, perceptions of eco-friendly soil-management practices and land degradation, adoption attitudes and final adoption decisions are all evaluated, and the factors affecting farmers’ final adoption decisions are estimated by applying a logit model. The results show that the perception levels of land degradation and eco-friendly soil-management practices are very high, and more than 70% of the respondents indicated that they wanted to adopt the practices; however, only a small portion of the interviewed farmers made the final decision to apply these practices. Of all the factors, perception of practices and adoption attitude were the most important ones influencing farmers’ adoption decision positively. Knowledge of environmental regulations, risk type, degree of farmland fertility, agro-technical training, participation in agricultural insurance, interaction with other farmers and membership in farmers’ organizations had positive relationships with adoption decisions, whereas availability of farming funding influenced adoption decisions negatively. According to these findings, ensuring agricultural profit is the primary basis for farmers’ adoption decisions; however, agricultural information—especially information about eco-friendly soil-management technologies—should also be widely dispersed, and environmental regulations should be strictly enforced.     

How do we cultivate in England? Tillage practices in crop production systems

Reducing tillage intensity offers the possibility of moving towards sustainable intensification objectives. Reduced tillage (RT) practices, where the plough is not used, can provide a number of environmental and financial benefits, particularly for soil erosion control. Based on 2010 harvest year data from the nationally stratified Farm Business Survey and drawing on a sub‐sample of 249 English arable farmers, we estimate that approximately 32% of arable land was established under RT, with 46% of farms using some form of RT. Farms more likely to use some form of RT were larger, located in the East Midlands and South East of England and classified as ‘Cereals’ farms. Application of RT techniques was not determined by the age or education level of the farmer. Individual crops impacted the choice of land preparation, with wheat and oilseed rape being more frequently planted after RT than field beans and root crops, which were almost always planted after ploughing. This result suggests there can be limitations to the applicability of RT. Average tillage depth was only slightly shallower for RT practices than ploughing, suggesting that the predominant RT practices are quite demanding in their energy use. Policy makers seeking to increase sustainable RT uptake will need to address farm‐level capital investment constraints and target policies on farms growing crops, such as wheat and oilseed rape, that are better suited to RT practices.     

Smallholder adoption of soil conservation technologies: evidence from upland projects in the Philippines

Soil erosion due to smallholder agriculture in upland areas of the Philippines is widely regarded as the country's most serious environmental problem. There have been many upland development projects involving the promotion of soil conservation and agroforestry measures. Yet adoption of such practices has been minimal. A research project was commissioned to investigate the technical and socio-economic factors limiting adoption of recommended soil conservation technologies. The project involved case studies of seven locations where conservation farming had been intensively promoted and adopted by a significant number of farmers. The research methods involved a combination of reconnaissance or rapid rural appraisal methods followed by a questionnaire survey of a sample of farmers from each site. This paper summarizes the project's findings regarding the farm-level factors associated with the adoption of recommended soil conservation technologies in the case-study sites. Its focus is on the attributes of the farm-household influencing the adoption-decision process, and the consequences of adoption at the level of the farm-household system. It was found that conservation farming technologies, particularly hedgerows, were widely seen by farmers who were aware of them as useful and even necessary, but it had required resource-intensive project intervention to get the adoption process going, and adoption was often constrained by farmers' specific circumstances, rather than their personal attributes and perceptions. A wider range of more profitable and less demanding conservation technologies was needed, promoted more flexibly and with greater, on-going support for farmers in their efforts to experiment with improved farming systems. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Safety assessments of agricultural machinery in Iran

Serious agriculture-related accidents are increasing in Iran, and this has come to the attention of authorities and planners. Due to the lack of data for this region of the world, research was conducted in different states of Iran to assess the most common causes of agriculture-related injuries. The relevant factors were divided into the three groups: personal, mechanical, and environmental. The major personal factors were education level, age, experience, injured limb, hospitalization period, gender, injury level, training, working hours, and insurance. The mechanical factors were machine type, machine part, mechanism of injury, machine's effective life, work activity at the time of injury, safety equipment, and insurance. The environmental factors were time of incident, geographical conditions of the accident location, and the time lapse between the accident and arrival at the hospital. The interactions between the various factors were also analyzed. All data were collected directly from farmers or their relatives. Data collection efforts were led by an official from the nearest health center or the local government agricultural office. The results indicated that 53% of injuries were related to personal factors, and 40% were related to the combination of personal and mechanical factors. The results confirmed that tractors and rotating parts were associated with the highest percentage of injuries in machine-related accidents. Lack of safety equipment and working beyond effective machine life was also observed in most cases. Personal factors need to be carefully considered in this region; insufficient levels of education and training were the main personal factors related to agricultural accidents. The results suggest that experience without training does not prevent injury, as more than 80% of injuries occurred to individuals with no training. Statistical analysis confirmed a significant effect of safety equipment and training on injuries. This study showed that agricultural injuries were severe in 60% of cases.     

Review of Integrated Nutrient Management for Sustainable Crop Production

This study analyses the influences of sociodemographic factors, business orientation of farmers, and farm characteristics on adoption of ICT-based information through primary data collected from 461 farmers in eight districts of Uttar Pradesh, India. A personal interview survey was conducted using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. The Poisson Count Regression Model was used to analyze the factors influencing use of the information derived through ICT-based systems on various agricultural practices. The findings indicate that education, income, and social category of farmers are important sociodemographic factors affecting the adoption of ICT-based information systems. Similarly, farmers who consider farming as a business venture, practice a diversified cropping system, and have small farms are more likely to use ICT-based information.     

Farmers' perception of land‐cover changes in NE Iceland

Land degradation is considered to be a major environmental problem by scientific and political institutions in Iceland. In past years, land degradation problems related to sheep and horse grazing have gradually come to the fore in public discussion of environmental questions. However, land degradation is often evaluated in different ways by different groups of people. This has led to a lack of consensus regarding rates and severity of land degradation. Therefore, it is important to study differences in environmental perception, and how these differences can be dealt with in the context of sustainable management. This paper aims to highlight farmers' perception of land degradation in Iceland, as perceptions of the environment determine the basis for human activities related to the land. A total of 100 farmers in NE Iceland were questioned and interviewed for their opinions on land degradation, its history, causes and severity. The results indicate that farmers consider land degradation to be a slow process, and not a catastrophic phenomenon. The understanding of the general ecological processes by the users affects their practices and concern for their environment. This feeds back on the land‐use system and ultimately causes changes in land‐cover. Therefore, if we are to increase our understanding of the processes that lead to land‐cover changes we have to integrate the perceptions of land users and technical experts. In this way we may improve conservation practices and land‐resource management policies. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adoption of technologies that enhance soil carbon sequestration in East Africa. What influence farmers’ decision?

The last two decades have seen a rise of interest in the adoption and diffusion of agricultural technologies aimed at improving the sustainability of agricultural lands among smallholder farmers in developing countries. This papers set out to understand factors that influence the adoption of technologies that enhance soil carbon sequestration among smallholder farmers, using secondary data recorded in the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) database from 45 to 50 smallholders’ farmers in selected places in Kenya and Ethiopia respectively. A Probit model was used to analyse whether socio-economic, institutional, off-farm income, technical know-how, farmers’ perceptions, and land use characteristics influences the adoption of technologies that enhance soil carbon sequestration. The results show that smallholder farmers that positively perceived net benefits of the soil carbon enhancing technologies were more likely to adopt such technologies that enhance soil carbon sequestration in both countries. Access to off-farm income and land ownership with title deeds were also found to be positively associated with adoption. Off-farm income positively influences adoption among farmer with a moderate income (100-500US$ per year) but not the rich (>500US$) farmers. Moderate to high level of skills and technical know-how required for implementing and maintaining a technology on the farm had a negative influence on adoption. This shows that interventions, aimed at addressing specific factors such as inadequate skills and knowledge, change in perception among farmers, and off-farm income are likely to have the greatest impact in decisions relating to the adoption of the soil carbon enhancing practices among farmers in East Africa.     

Risk factors for agricultural injury: a case-control analysis of Iowa farmers in the Agricultural Health Study

The purpose of this case-control study nested in the Agricultural Health Study was to assess risk factors for agricultural injury among a large group of Iowa farmers. A questionnaire sent to 6,999 farmers identified 431 cases who had a farm work-related injury requiring medical advice/treatment in the previous year and 473 controls who had no injury in the previous year. We assessed several potential risk factors for injury. A multiple logistic regression analysis showed significant associations between farm work-related injury and weekly farming work hours (> or = 50 hours/week) (OR = 1.65; 95% CI = 1.23-2.21), the presence of large livestock (OR = 1.77; 95% CI = 1.24-2.51), education beyond high school (OR = 1.61; 95% CI = 1.21-2.12), regular medication use (OR = 1.44; 95% CI = 1.04-1.96), wearing a hearing aid (OR = 2.36; 95% CI = 1.07-5.20), and younger age. These results confirm the importance of risk factors identified in previous analytic studies and suggest directions for future research in preventive intervention strategies to reduce farm work-related injuries.