The vibration conditions to which tractor operators are subjected are complex and varied with multi axis translation and rotational vibration inputs to different parts of the body. Working under such conditions may lead to human fatigue and other driving related hazards. The present research was carried out to study the operators under varying conditions of vibration while driving a tractor wit...

Few studies have been done examining noise exposures associated with agricultural tasks. This study was conducted to address that research gap by calculating the noise exposures for tasks and equipment associated with grain production and assessing the variability in those exposures. An additional aim of this study was to identify tasks and equipment that could be targeted for intervention stra...

Given an agricultural watershed containing a set of spatial units, and a set of land management practices, the Geodesign Optimization (GOP) aims to find a land management practice for each spatial unit that optimizes overall water quality improvements in the watershed under both budget constraint and spatial constraints (e.g., minimum contiguous area, shape) arising from farm equipment operatio...

We analyzed the effectiveness of personal protective equipment and oseltamivir use during the 2003 avian influenza A (H7N7) epidemic in the Netherlands by linking databases containing information about farm visits, human infections, and use of oseltamivir and personal protective equipment. Using a stringent case definition, based on self-reported conjunctivitis combined with a positive hemagglu...

Q fever, caused by Coxiella burnetii, is a recognized occupational infection in persons who have regular contact with ruminants. We determined C. burnetii seroprevalence in residents living or working on dairy cattle farms with ≥50 adult cows and identified risk factors for seropositivity. Serum samples from farm residents, including employees, were tested for C. burnetii IgG and IgM; seropreva...

Pig farms in the Netherlands producing boars have different levels of boar taint prevalence, as assessed by sensory evaluation with the human nose at the slaughter line. With a questionnaire to 152 Dutch pig producers (response rate 59%), farm and management characteristics were identified that are potentially associated with farm-level boar taint prevalence. Lower farm-level boar taint prevale...

Most farm organizations and farmers movements originated from farmers beliefs that they were treated unfairly in the marketplace (Taylor, 1953). For over a century, farmers have felt that suppliers of certain inputs needed by farmers, such as bankers and farm equipment manufactures, received a disproportionate share of the profits from food production. They also believed that the buyers of thei...

Corrosion is the deterioration of materials by chemical interaction with their environment. The consequences of corrosion are many and varied. The effects of these on the safe, reliable and efficient operation of equipment or structures are often more serious than the simple loss of a mass of metal. The two main reasons for replacing machinery or equipment include upgrading old equipment and su...

Exposure to pesticides can be reduced by wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) or by implementing alternative pest control techniques, such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM). A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted to explore the prevalence of these practices and the factors that may be associated with them among men and women involved in fruit growing in British Columbia (BC),...

OBJECTIVE The main objective of this study was to systematically review the existing evidence for the effectiveness of farm injury prevention interventions. SEARCH STRATEGY We used a systematic approach to search the following electronic databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, ERIC, PsycInfo, Sociofile, NTIS, Agricola, Expanded Academic Index, Dissertation Abstracts, and Occupational Safety and Health (N...