Protecting Ourselves from Harm: Voices of Aging Farmers

Senior farmers suffer the highest fatality risk of any age group in agriculture. The purpose of this exploratory study was to develop a voice for senior farmers by examining aging farmers\u27 and their families\u27 perspectives of farm work, associated injury risks, and methods to decrease those risks. Focus groups and personal interviews were used to collect data from 81 participants across seven U.S. states. The findings reflect the collective and verified voice of the study group. The Health Belief Model was applied and revealed differences between farmers and their family members; however, the need and desire to continue self-directed work was ubiquitous. Seniors reported external risks, while family members were more likely to name risks associated with the health of the senior farmer. Both groups cited stress as an injury risk. Posing risk to others was the trigger point for senior farmers to make behavior changes. Family members reported uneasiness in initiating safety conversations. Adaptation of existing interventions for self-assessment of risk was rejected. Use of the popular farm press and respected local resources were desired as avenues for safety education. Humor and stories were highly regarded. Interventions should be tailored for the target audience. These new insights into the risk perceptions of senior farmers and their families may result in more appropriate actions by health professionals, extension staff social workers, vocational rehabilitation specialists, and others who work with farm populations

Vol. 27 No. 3 (Autumn 2016), DOI 10.18060/21388 Building an Engagement Center through Love of Place: The Story of the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center

Universities throughout the United States operate engagement centers to extend campus faculty, staff and student resources to their communities. In 2014, the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) opened the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center (Weitz CEC): a privately funded $24 million, 70,000 square foot facility located in the middle of its original Dodge Street campus. In addition to offices for its service learning and community service enterprises, the CEC houses over thirty university and community organizations and offers extensive space for meetings, dialogue and collaboration. This paper will discuss its strategic and programmatic origins, unique design, and lessons learned in developing and operating the center

Farm Work Injuries Among a Cohort of Children in Kentucky, USA

Children residing on farms with livestock may be at an increased risk for work-related injuries, compared to children who work on other commodity farms. This study characterizes children\u27s work tasks on Kentucky farms and assesses whether children who work on beef cattle farms are at an increased risk for farm work injuries. The results of a cohort study of children aged 5-18 years (N=999 at baseline) working on family farms in Kentucky, followed for two consecutive years after an initial enumeration five years previously, found that 70% of the children were involved in animal-related chores. Across all age groups, children on beef cattle farms devoted a greater number of hours per week to farm work, compared to children living on other commodity farms, especially during the school year. For all children in the study, working more than 180 days per year, performing farm work independently, and working on a beef cattle farm (compared to other commodity farm), increased the risk of a farm work injury. However, none of these associations were statistically significant. For male children only, the performance of work tasks independently was significantly associated with a 2.4-fold increased risk (OR = 2.41; 95% CI: 1.15-5.06; P=0.02) for a farm work injury, after controlling for days of working, age, period of data collection, and commodity type of the farm

Working Together: A Values Approach for Strengthening University/Community Partnerships

Conference: Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU

Farmwork-Related Injury Among Farmers 50 Years of Age and Older in Kentucky and South Carolina: A Cohort Study, 2002-2005

Farmers in the U.S. are becoming more diverse; the average age of the farmer is increasing, as is the number of women and minority farm operators. There is limited research on injury risk factors in these special populations of farmers. It is especially important to study the risk factors for injury in these growing and at-risk groups. A longitudinal survey was conducted of farmers (n = 1,394) age 50 and older who resided in Kentucky and South Carolina. The questionnaire was administered by telephone and mail surveys four times between 2002 and 2005 to the fixed cohort of farmers, obtained by convenience sample. Approximately half of the cohort was female, and the majority of the cohort worked less than 40 hours per week. This cohort reported a crude, non-fatal injury rate of 9.3 injured farmers per 100 per year. Farmers reporting chronic bronchitis/emphysema (estimated odds ratio [EOR] = 1.57), back problems (EOR = 1.37), arthritis (EOR = 1.31), 3 to 4 restless nights in the past week (EOR = 2.02), or 5 to 7 restless nights in the past week (EOR = 1.82) were at significantly higher odds of sustaining a farmwork-related injury as calculated by the generalized estimating equations (GEE) regression method Farmers operating equipment on highways (EOR = 1.51) or climbing higher than eight feet (EOR = 1.69) were at significantly higher odds of sustaining a farmwork-related injury, and females were at higher risk of injury when performing animal-related tasks (EOR = 3.00) or crop-related tasks (EOR = 2.21). Identified factors associated with farmwork-related injury should better inform agricultural health policies and guidelines for older farmers, such as policies governing the allowable number of hours worked per week and rest breaks, guidelines that advise appropriate types of farm tasks, and ergonomic engineering advances on farming equipment

The Hidden Work of the Farm Homemaker

Despite women’s involvement in agricultural production, the work role of women residing in farm households has not been thoroughly examined. Data collected in 1994-1995 as part of the NIOSH-sponsored Farm Family Health and Hazard Surveillance Project were used to address task issues and health status of farm women in Kentucky. In 1996, the farm woman component of the Kentucky study was replicated in five counties in west Texas, allowing an examination of farm women in two large agricultural states. The Kentucky study employed a two-stage cluster design;the Texas study was based on a systematic quota sample of farms. Both studies selected a sample of women aged 18 years and older living in farm households. A total of 992 women in Kentucky (response rate = 85%) and 665 women in Texas completed a structured 30-min telephone interview on work roles, health status, injuries, and demographics. The results indicated that although 46.4% of the Kentucky respondents and 46.3% of the Texas respondents characterized themselves as farm homemakers, they regularly engaged in farmwork. Reported tasks included work with animals, tobacco-related chores, field irrigation, farm equipment operation, and farm management. Further, women who characterized themselves as homemakers reported rates of farm injuries that were comparable with women who classified themselves in other roles such as full agricultural partners. Role definition may influence the woman’s perception of risk on the farm, preclude participation in farm safety programs, and prevent an accurate occupational medical history. This two-state descriptive study highlights the hidden work role of the farm woman—a role that remains invisible to the farm woman herself—and emphasizes the important occupational exposures that farm women encounter

Love of Place: The Metropolitan University Advantage: 2015 CUMU National Conference in Omaha

The theme for the 2015 CUMU National Conference in Omaha, NE was “Love of Place: The Metropolitan University Advantage”. The 2015 theme celebrates key elements that establish the identity of metropolitan universities and CUMU as an organization. The theme recognizes the unique opportunities and benefits provided by metropolitan universities for students and communities. Metropolitan universities provide students with enriching educational experiences while contributing to building and strengthening the community. These enriched experiences also support faculty and staff growth as members of the university and community. The theme encouraged conference participants to explore new pedagogical approaches, strategies for sustaining meaningful partnerships, and opportunities for successful engagement of the community by examining the transformative power of the relationships between metropolitan universities and their “place.” Essential to this theme is the notion of stewardship and being good stewards of the communities that we live in, that bless our lives, our families, and our universities. The special issue devoted to the theme and notion of “Love of Place” provides an overview of the stewardship witnessed at the conference and then launches into the full article contributions that illustrate the “Love of Place” exemplified by the great presenters and the many initiatives occurring across the CUMU

Occupational Injuries on Thoroughbred Horse Farms: A Description of Latino and Non-Latino Workers\u27 Experiences

Animal production is a dangerous industry and increasingly reliant on a Latino workforce. Within animal production, little is known about the risks or the occupational hazards of working on farms involved in various aspects of thoroughbred horse breeding. Extant research suggests that horse workers are at risk of musculoskeletal and respiratory symptoms, kicks, and other injuries. However, limited known research has examined the experiences of the industry\u27s workers, including immigrant workers, despite their prominence and increased vulnerability. Using data collected from thoroughbred farm representatives via a phone-administered survey, a 2-hour face-to-face semi-structured interview, and farm injury logs, this article identifies and describes types of injuries experienced by workers (N = 284) and their surrounding circumstances. Results indicate that general injuries and musculoskeletal strains, sprains, and tears account for a majority of injuries among workers on thoroughbred farms. Upper limbs and extremities are most frequently injured, while direct contact with the horse accounted for over half of all injuries. No differences in the diagnoses or distribution of injury were found by ethnicity; however, Latinos were more often struck by or trampled by a horse while non-Latinos were more often injured by an insect or plant. Implications and opportunities for future research are discussed

Academic Priority: Graduate/Doctoral Research

Overview Doctoral Education at UNO: Past, Present, and Future

Reviews and syntheses: Field data to benchmark the carbon cycle models for tropical forests

For more accurate projections of both the global carbon (C) cycle and the changing climate, a critical current need is to improve the representation of tropical forests in Earth system models. Tropical forests exchange more C, energy, and water with the atmosphere than any other class of land ecosystems. Further, tropical-forest C cycling is likely responding to the rapid global warming, intensifying water stress, and increasing atmospheric CO2 levels. Projections of the future C balance of the tropics vary widely among global models. A current effort of the modeling community, the ILAMB (International Land Model Benchmarking) project, is to compile robust observations that can be used to improve the accuracy and realism of the land models for all major biomes. Our goal with this paper is to identify field observations of tropical-forest ecosystem C stocks and fluxes, and of their long-term trends and climatic and CO2 sensitivities, that can serve this effort. We propose criteria for reference-level field data from this biome and present a set of documented examples from old-growth lowland tropical forests. We offer these as a starting point towards the goal of a regularly updated consensus set of benchmark field observations of C cycling in tropical forests.This work was made possible by the support of the US Geological Survey John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis. The support from the Powell Center included funding the participation of Shinichi Asao. Deborah A. Clark was supported by US National Science Foundation LTREB grants DEB-1147367 and DEB-1357112. Tana E. Wood was supported by US Department of Energy, Terrestrial Ecosystem Sciences grant DE-SC0011806 and by the USDA Forest Service International Institute for Tropical Forestry in collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico. Xiaojuan Yang was supported by the Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments-Tropics and the Biogeochemistry–Climate Feedbacks Scientific Focus Area (BGC Feedbacks SFA) of the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research. Peter B. Reich was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science (DE-SC0012677). Sasha Reed was financially supported by US Department of Energy, Terrestrial Ecosystem Sciences grant DE-SC0011806 and by the US Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area