Agriculture of Iwate as Seen from a Hygienic Viewpoint

Abstract

I started to study health problems in dairy farming in the Kitakami mountain district during the latter half of the1970's. Fields were located mostly in steep slopes and pastures were limited in area. In this district a survey of dairy farmers, time budget was carried out by the direct time-study method. And the energy consumption of farmers for their dairy farming activities was measured using the Douglas bag method. Working hours were prolonged because grass grew thick from early May to late October (the busy farming season). In this season, many farmers worked 13-14 hours per day. Grass harvesting that was done on the steep slope consumed a lot of energy. There was a close correlation between gradient and energy consumption for mowing. Various other kinds of agriculture were researched in Iwate Prefecture. And we pointed out some problems in each study. In recent years, the most serious problem in farm work is a high rate of accident occurence. About 400 farmers died in accidents every year for the past 40 years, and there is not a sign to decrease at all. This is the big problem that the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine should wrestle with.