Eye injury in migrant farm workers and suggested hazard controls

The eyes are a common site of injury in agricultural operations. Identification of the cause of injury is important to inform preventive interventions. The objective of this study was to describe the hazards and mechanisms of acute traumatic injury to the eyes of agricultural workers who are hired in farming operations on a seasonal basis. A review of the literature was performed to summarize the mechanisms of eye injuries in agriculture. Field observations and informal interviews were performed to verify the literature and to determine whether there are eye hazards for farm workers that have not been reported in the literature. Additional mechanisms of injury were elicited, and suggested methods of injury prevention are presented here.     

Psychological determinants of behaviors leading to occupational injuries and diseases in agriculture: a literature overview

Agriculture is one of the most hazardous occupational sectors, with a high prevalence of occupational injuries and work-related health problems. Most of these problems are caused by the interplay of human behavior and ergonomic factors and are thus preventable. Interventions to prevent occupational injuries and diseases among agricultural workers should aim to change risk behaviors and conditions by addressing specific behavioral determinants. To identify these factors, social cognitive models can be use that explain and predict health-related behavior. This study reviews the literature on the application of social cognitive models for the prevention of occupational injuries and diseases among agricultural workers. Studies are reviewed that apply the Health Belief Model, Theory of ReasonedAction, Theory of Planned Behavior, Transtheoretical Model of Change, or their subcomponents, to predict or change preventive behavior. Only a limited number of studies were found describing interventions that make use of these models, and those that do are often poorly documented with regard to the effect sizes and the explanatory or predictive value. It is concluded that the application of social cognitive models could significantly contribute to the effectiveness of preventive interventions in agriculture.     

A community-based telephone survey of work and injuries in teenage agricultural workers

In order to estimate the one-year cumulative incidence of work-related injuries in teenage agricultural workers and to characterize the patterns and types of agricultural work performed by teenagers, we performed a community-based random-digit dialing telephone survey. We used a sampling frame of farm and non-farm households to access information on teenage agricultural workers. An agricultural community in eastern Washington State was selected due to the high number of teenage youth and its agricultural economy. Teenage agricultural workers who worked for an agricultural business owned by one of their family members were more likely to work a greater number of seasons, work fewer hours per week, perform tasks involving driving, animal care, and mechanic work, and were less likely to be seasonal workers or work in the harvest than teenagers who did not work for a family member. A similar pattern of work differences was seen when comparing non-Hispanic to Hispanic agricultural workers. Teenagers working for a family member in agriculture had a higher injury rate than teenagers working for an agricultural business not owned by a family member. The injury rate among Hispanic teenage agricultural workers was also higher than that of non-Hispanics.     

Traumatic injuries in agriculture

The National Coalition for Agricultural Safety and Health (NCASH) in 1988 addressed issues in agriculture and noted "a sense of urgency... arose from the recognition of the unabating epidemic of traumatic death and injury in American farming . . ." This article provides an update to the NCASH conference on traumatic injuries in agriculture, a history on how the facts and figures were arrived at for the NCASH conference, and a current report on the status of traumatic injuries in agriculture in the U.S. Fatal and nonfatal injuries are addressed along with national and regional surveillance systems. The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) was used for reporting national agricultural production fatal injuries from 1992-1998 (25.8 deaths per 100,000 workers), the Traumatic Injury Surveillance of Farmers (TISF) 1993-1995 was used to report nonfatal injuries occurring nationally (7.5/100 workers), and Regional Rural Injury Studies I and II (RRIS-I and RRIS-II) were used to illustrate a regional approach along with in-depth, specific analyses. Fatality rates, which showed some decline in the 1980s, were fairly constant during the 1990s. Changes in nonfatal injury rates for this sector could not be assessed due to a lack of benchmark data. The main concerns identified in the 1989 NCASH report continue today: tractors are the leading cause of farm-related death due mostly to overturns; older farmers continue to be at the highest risk for farm fatalities; and traumatic injuries continue to be a major concern for youth living or working on U.S. farms. Fatal and nonfatal traumatic injuries associated with agricultural production are a major public health problem that needs to be addressed through comprehensive approaches that include further delineation of the problem, particularly in children and older adults, and identification of specific risk factors through analytic efforts. Continued development of relevant surveillance systems and implementation of appropriate interventions are the primary challenges for the current decade.     

Reaching teen farm workers with health and safety information: an evaluation of a high school ESL curriculum

While childhood agricultural injury has long been recognized as an important public health issue, most research has focused on family farms and there have not been many interventions targeting hired youth. This study evaluated the impact of a high school English as a Second Language (ESL) curriculum, designed to provide teen agricultural workers with the knowledge and tools to protect their health and safety in the fields. Using a quasi-experimental design, the research consisted of two intervention groups and a comparison group, and included over 2,000 students from communities that lead California in agricultural production. The research findings revealed that the curriculum had significant impact in terms of increases in knowledge and attitudes, and nearly half of those interviewed after a summer of working in the fields reported implementing new behaviors to protect their health and safety. The curriculum also had extended effects in the broader community, as the majority of students reported sharing the new information with others. The study found that a school-based ESL curriculum is an effective intervention to reach and educate teen farm workers and that ESL classes can serve as a much-needed access point for young farm workers.     

农业面源污染防治的难点、问题及对策

实现农业绿色发展,提升农产品品质是破解新时代社会主要矛盾在农业领域表现的重要途径,其前提是对农业面源污染进行有效防治,以提升农业生产系统环境质量。本文在系统梳理农业面源污染领域研究文献的基础上,剖析了农业面源污染防治的难点及问题,一是化肥施用总量（折纯量）大与施用强度高并存;使用效率低与流失严重同在;二是农药使用量的增加以及包装物带来的面源污染呈现加重态势;三是农用薄膜造成的"白色污染"短期内难以从根本上解决;四是畜禽废弃物产生量大,污染严重;同时,兽用抗生素的环境影响不容忽视。在农业面源污染防治中,存在着防治对象具有多源性、防治主体多元性以及防治技术有效性不足、机制缺失等问题。为此,应以绿色发展理念为指导,提升全社会对农业面源污染防治重要性的认识;强化农业面源污染防治行动计划的实施监督,并注重实施效果的监测与评价;实施多维创新,保障农业生产系统的健康,以更好地推进农业面源污染防治。     

Community Partners for Healthy Farming Intervention Research

The purpose of the Community Partners for Healthy Farming Intervention Research (CPHF-IR) program is to implement and evaluate existing or new interventions for reduction of agriculture-related injuries, hazards, and illnesses. Objectives include the development of active partnerships between experienced researchers, communities, workers, managers, agricultural organizations, agribusinesses, and other stakeholders. Specific intervention projects were selected by the competitive review process in response to a request for proposals. The second series of projects (funded 2000-2003) targeted: improved ergonomics for handling grapes (CA) and for small-scale berry growers (WI, IA, MI, MN), engineering controls (KY, VA, SC) and training (IN) related to tractors, private-sector financial incentives for safety (IA, NE), and reducing eye injuries in Latino farmworkers (IL, MI, FL). Partners have provided their unique resources for accessing the target population, planning, implementation, dissemination, and evaluation. They have produced useful engineering controls, educational and motivational tools, and helped build infrastructure for promoting agricultural health as essential to sustainable agriculture. Additional outcomes have included: increased interest among participants in collaborating in further research, the feasibility of Latino lay health advisors as active partners in research, and the value of process evaluation of a partnership to enhance intervention sustainability. NIOSH is utilizing the model created for Simple Solutions: Ergonomics for Farm Workers, a document related to earlier CPHF-IR projects, for a comparable document for construction in both English and Spanish. This program has confirmed that such partnerships can produce not only sustainable interventions but also products and models with the potential to expand farther geographically than originally anticipated and even into other sectors, e.g., for primary prevention among healthcare workers and adolescents, and to introduce public health in social studies and language classes.     

Mortality and morbidity in agriculture in the United States

This article summarizes the trends in agricultural injuries and illnesses in the past decade, as well as the needs for surveillance in the future. Agriculture is one of the most hazardous industries in the U.S. The fatality rate in agriculture remained high (about 22/100,000 workers) through the 1990s. and tractors remained the leading source of death, causing approximately 300 fatalities each year. Non-fatal injuries and illnesses decreased in the employed agricultural worker population. There are no adequate injury and illness data for self-employed farmers and family members to show trends over time. The reported injury rates have been 0.5 to 16.6/100 workers, based on the source of information. Many studies have shown high rates of respiratory and musculoskeletal symptoms, hearing loss, and skin disorders in agriculture. The overall cancer rate is lower; however, certain cancers are elevated in farmers. Surveillance information has not improved significantly in the past decade; however, many studies have provided more insight into the prevalence, incidence, and risk factors for injury and illness. Further efforts are needed to better define the populations at risk, including farmers and ranchers, family members, workers, migrant and seasonal workers, and others exposed to farm hazards. Fatalities are well documented, and it is important to continue existing surveillance in the future. Surveillance systems should be developed to collect information on agriculture-related non-fatal injuries and illnesses.     

Preservation of hearing among agricultural workers: a review of literature and recommendations for future research

A review of literature was conducted to summarize the progress to date in hearing preservation among agricultural workers, including previously published reports and studies in progress. Types of studies reviewed include noise exposure studies, hearing acuity studies, studies focusing on the use of hearing protection, and intervention studies designed to increase hearing protector use. Recommendations for future research are presented.     

Research Support Services for the Field of Agriculture: Ithaka S+R Interviews and Themes for Libraries

ABSTRACT

As part of a larger, national survey, we performed an in-depth qualitative analysis using semistructured interviews and a standard set of questions. We wished to examine the research practices of faculty in agriculture, to understand what they need to be successful in their teaching and research. We plan to use this information to make improvements to research support services. The national survey results should help pinpoint opportunities for developing new research support services for agriculture. This study adds to library and information sciences by examining the specific needs of faculty members in agriculture and agricultural extension, groups that have been previously underrepresented in the library literature.     

加快农业信息化建设推进云南现代农业发展

加强农业信息化建设是发展现代农业的重要内容,农业信息化是现代农业的重要标志。云南省农业信息化工作在十一五期间取得了一定成绩,但还存在一些问题,在十二五时期,要完成既定目标必须采取相应的对策。     

Current health effects of agricultural work: respiratory disease,cancer, reproductive effects,musculoskeletal injuries,and pesticide-related illnesses

Agriculture has experienced major bio-technological advances and economic and socio-cultural disruptions since the publication of "Agriculture at Risk" in 1988. At that time, it was recognized that there were acute needs in the prevention of musculoskeletal syndromes and injuries, agricultural respiratory disease, noise-induced hearing loss, pesticide-related illnesses, and concerns regarding the excesses of cancers noted in epidemiological studies of farmers. In this article, we discuss the progress made in identification of new respiratory syndromes related to confined animal feeding operations, pesticide-related illnesses, cancers implicating agricultural exposures, and ergonomics in agriculture. The focus is on the current state of knowledge in these areas, the author's recommendations for further improvement in research techniques, and the potential application of this information to improve human health in production agriculture nationwide.     

刍议农民工进城就业与返乡创业

在城乡一体化发展的新形势下,农业剩余劳动力大规模地向城市和非农产业转移,这加快了城市化和工业化的进程,与此同时,大量的农民工如何融入城市的问题也愈发凸显。文章认为,劳动力实现合理的转移就业,是促进农民工融入城市,进而推进城乡一体化发展的关键,一方面,农民工进城就业参与城市的建设推进了"三化"(工业化、城镇化、农业产业化)的进程,另一方面,农民工返乡创业服务农村的建设带动了"三农"的发展。     

21世纪农业及农业工程科学技术发展的趋势、特点

基于分析２０世纪后期,世界农业发生的重大变化及由此引起的全球环境恶化等问题,本文着重论述了２1世纪农业及农业工程科学技术发展的趋势与特点。说明持续农业是世界农业发展的总趋势。依照世界农业、农业工程科学技术发展的态势,根据我国的国情及适合我国国情的现代化农业发展道路,阐述了我国农业及农业工程科学技术发展的目标与方向。     

我国节水农业科技创新成效与进展

我国农业必须走依靠科技创新大幅度提高水的利用效率、发展节水型高效农业的内涵式增长道路、从传统的粗放型灌溉农业和旱地雨养农业向现代高效节水型灌溉农业、节水型旱作农业和节水型生态农业转变。为此，在“九五”期间已取得的节水农业科技创新成效基础上，国家应加大对节水农业科技发展的支持力度，强化节水农业科技基础条件建设，完善节水农业技术创新平台，加快节水农业科技创新步伐，尽快建立健全具有中国特色的节水农业技术体系与模式，实现我国节水农业的跨越式发展。     

A systematic review of soil erosion control practices on the agricultural land in Asia

Soil is the basis of production in agriculture activities. The combination of intensive farming activities, improper farming practices, rainfall regimes, and topography conditions that taken place in agricultural land lead to the soil erosion problem. Soil erosion is the major constraint to agriculture that affects the yield production and degraded environmental sustainability. Furthermore, soil erosion that occurs in the agricultural area has jeopardized the sustainability of agriculture activities. Asia is one of the major agricultural producers in the world. It is essential to know how to mitigate soil erosion in Asian agricultural land. This systematic review aims to analyze the existing literature on research that has been done on control practices that had been taken in Asia agricultural land towards soil erosion. This article is guided by the PRISMA Statement (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis) review method. The authors systematically reviewed the literature to study the control practices that been taken and tested to control soil erosion on the agricultural land in Asia. Accordingly, this systematic review identified 39 related studies about the topic based on the Web of Science and Scopus databases. This article divided the control practices into three main themes, which are agronomic practices, agrostological practices, and mechanical practices. The three main themes then produced a total of 11 sub-themes. Further specific and sustained research is needed to tackle this severe environmental problem through a better method, such as this systematic review method. The systematic review helps farmers and policymakers to implement the most practical approach to control and reduce soil erosion.     

A description of the standardized measurement procedures and recommended threshold limit values for biological hazards in Germany

On the basis of EU directives 89/391/EEC (to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work) and 2000/54/EC (on the protection of workers from risks related to exposure to biological agents at work), biological hazards at work have to be assessed and preventive measures have to be introduced in all member states of the EU. In Germany, national legislation (Biological Agents Ordinance - BioStoffV and Technical Rules on Biological Agents, TRBA) and recommendations of workers' compensation boards define standardized methods for the assessment of airborne mold, bacteria, and endotoxins. This article describes policies and practices in Germany for measurement of airborne bioaerosols and for interpretation of measurements relative to the standards. As an example, methods and results of measurements in agriculture are shown. The standardized measurement procedures proved suitable for use in livestock buildings. The results of the exploratory measurements in different livestock buildings confirmed the often high concentrations of airborne biological hazards in agriculture that are reported in the literature.     

控制中国非点源污染的生物经济学战略

While non-point pollution from agriculture has become an increasingly serious problem in China, some progress has been made in studying the causal biophysical processes. However, few studies have assessed the economic consequences of non-point pollution in China or the policy options that could be employed to combat it. In this work a sustainable strategy to control non-point pollution from crop production, which involved taxing excessive inputs of irrigation water and fertilizer, was proposed. The approach taken to assess these measures combined biophysical and economic models,having a trade-off between economic returns and an improved environment. A proven and practical spatially referenced water and nutrient management model was used to determine the quantities of excessive irrigation water and fertilizer for specific soil and land use. Also, a set of indicators were proposed for evaluating the effects of agricultural economic output and agricultural practices on the environment.     

试论信息技术对农业传播的影响与变革

分析了信息技术对于农业传播的重要意义,介绍了信息技术应用于现代农业传播的方法和途径,如视频专家系统、动植物疾病诊断与防治系统、农业网络书屋、农业网站和电子商务平台、基于3G的基层农技推广信息化平台等,展现出了未来农业发展的可喜局面,并提出了农业信息化建设中可能遇到的问题,以期更多的农业推广人员和农民朋友参与到这些项目的建设与使用中来。     

农业生态足迹研究进展与展望

农业生态足迹作为一种有效衡量农业可持续发展状况的计量工具,具有模型可操作性和结果可比性强的优势。本文从农业生态足迹的概念内涵出发,对农业生态足迹的算法、参数调整及农业生态足迹的应用等方面的国内外相关研究进行了文献综述。算法上,介绍了农业生态足迹的4种计算思路,包括只考虑农业生物资源消耗、同时考虑农业生物资源消耗和能源消耗、考虑农业废弃物及污染物以及结合其他计量方法,并分别阐述了其具体算法,且总结了农业生态足迹参数调整的一般方法;应用上,梳理了不同农业技术及生产方式的合理性分析及农业系统的可持续性分析。综述发现,算法方面,已有研究从农业生态足迹的传统模型出发,依据不同研究目的设计计算思路,近几年,与其他计量方法的结合应用越来越受到关注;参数方面,从直接采用"全球公顷"方法中的均衡因子和产量因子,到依据研究区域修改两个因子参数,再到结合能值理论、净初级生产力等其他计量方法中相对稳定的参数,使得计算结果更加精确;应用方面,逐渐以农业生态为研究主线,结合农业社会、经济、科技等维度综合探究农业可持续发展问题。