ABSTRACT

Purpose: Community colleges are academic institutions that often prepare students in associate degree programs such as agricultural sciences. The program develops students for many professional careers in the industry of agriculture; however, many students have prior exposure to working in farming through personal experience. Through these experiences, each student has formulated their own viewpoints on safety and protection against common hazards in farming. Agriculture is a high-risk occupation and needs to have a safety program implemented. Unfortunately, there is a lack of information on concerns among young farmers. One portion of the college program is to enhance safety practices by supplying additional information on safety and health issues. Following the program, we wanted to understand what students’ perspectives were regarding safety issues and protection on the farm.

Methods: A written survey of eight questions was distributed to students at Kirkwood Community College attending an agricultural safety and health program. Survey items asked about students’ greatest health and safety concerns on the farm, kinds of resources that would help students better manage these concerns, and preferred sources of farm health and safety information on these or other concerns. These responses were compared those of 540 farmers in the region.

Findings: Primary concerns identified by students included chemical safety, grain bin engulfment, and adverse chronic health outcomes such as hearing loss or skin cancer. Additionally, training and safety equipment were the primary resources recognized to help better manage these concerns. Lastly, the preferred source for health and safety information on these or other concerns was 4-H and FFA.

Practical Application: Information collected in this survey differed from previous non-student surveys. This indicates young farmers’ concerns for safety and health may differ from older farmers.

摘要

目的：社区学院是学术机构，通常为学生提供农业科学等副学士学位课程的准备。该计划旨在培养从事农业行业许多职业的学生；但是，许多学生以前通过个人经验接触过农业。通过这些经验，每个学生都就安全和防止农业常见危害提出了自己的观点。农业是高风险的职业，需要实施安全计划。不幸的是，缺乏关于年轻农民关注的信息。该大学计划的一部分是通过提供有关安全和健康问题的其他信息来增强安全实践。按照计划，

方法：向参加农业安全与健康计划的柯克伍德社区学院的学生分发了对八个问题的书面调查。调查项目询问学生对农场最大的健康和安全关注，可以帮助学生更好地管理这些关注的资源，以及有关这些或其他关注的农场健康和安全信息的首选来源。比较了该地区540名农民的回答。

调查结果：学生发现的主要问题包括化学安全性，谷类食物吞没和不良的慢性健康后果，例如听力下降或皮肤癌。此外，培训和安全设备是公认的有助于更好地解决这些问题的主要资源。最后，关于这些或其他问题的健康和安全信息的首选来源是4-H和FFA。

实际应用：本次调查收集的信息与以前的非学生调查有所不同。这表明年轻农民对安全和健康的关注可能与老年农民有所不同。