The Ag Safety and Health Community of Practice and the Enhancing Educational Programming for Beginning Farm and Ranch Women are working together to provide a one-stop for resources about agricultural safety, health, and mechanization information specifically for women.
Based on the 2017 Census of Agriculture, women represent 36% of all American agricultural producers, which an increase of about 5% since the 2012 Census. Over the years, the woman’s role in agriculture continues to change as more women are involved in a broader aspect of farm and ranch responsibilities. Women are more likely to have livestock operations than traditional field crops. Farms and ranches operated by women typically involved less than 180 acres.
Production agriculture is a demanding and physical occupation but there are some specific risks for women in agriculture. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has outlined specific risk for women in agriculture including pregnancy-related risks, mental health, work-related injuries, and many more. The Ag Safety and Health eXtension Community of Practice has developed the article pages to provide more in-depth information related to specially to women in agriculture in the following topic areas:
Additional information about and for women in agriculture can be located at the following site:
Article Summarized and Reviewed By:
Linda Fetzer, Pennsylvania State University – lmf8@psu.edu
Karen Funkenbusch, University of Missouri – funkenbuschk@missouri.edu
Angie Hissong, OTR/L, Pennsylvania State University – anh1@psu.edu
Tevin Uthlaut, University of Missouri – UthlautT@missouri.edu
Project Funding Acknowledgement:
This material is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S.D.A., under award number 2014-68006-21873.
AgrAbility for Pennsylvanians Project is supported under USDA/NIFA Special Projects 2017-41590-27105 in collaboration with Penn State Extension.
The Missouri AgrAbility Project is supported by funds from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under sponsored project number 2018-41590-22323.