Iowa Farm Operators Research Articles

Barriers and Motivators for Tractor ROPS Retrofitting in Iowa.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach conducted an assessment of Iowa farm operators' perceptions of the barriers and motivators when considering retrofitting tractors with rollover protective structures (ROPS). A statewide sample of approximately 2,000 farm operators was surveyed in the 2017 Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll. A series of questions was asked to evaluate the importance of potential barriers to decisions to not retrofit a tractor and potential motivators that could influence the decision to retrofit or purchase a tractor with ROPS. The survey received a 48% response rate (999 responses). Among the 76% of Iowa farm operators who reported at least one pre-1985 tractor, only 18.6% reported that all of those tractors had ROPS. The remaining 81.4% had at least one tractor that did not have ROPS. Iowa farm operators' perceptions of the barriers and motivators when considering retrofitting tractors with ROPS are shared. The results of Iowa farm operators' perceptions will be used as Iowa State University Extension and Outreach prepares to align efforts with the National Tractor Safety Coalition and participate in the National ROPS Rebate Program, with the goal of reducing tractor fatalities.

Work-related injuries among Iowa farm operators: an analysis of the Iowa Farm Family Health and Hazard Surveillance Project.

In 1994, the Iowa Farm Family Health and Hazard Surveillance Project carried out a two-stage, stratified, cluster survey of Iowa farms using a mail survey. With data from this representative sample of Iowa farmers, we examined the associations between farm-work-related injuries and possible risk factors for 390 principal farm operators. Forty (10.3%) of these operators reported being injured while doing farm work. We developed a logistic regression to assess associations between potential risk factors and injury. We found three factors significantly associated with injury: younger age (odds ratio [OR] = 3.1, confidence interval [CI] = 1.1-9.3), having an impairment or health problem that limits work (OR = 2.4, CI = 1.5-3.8), and hand or arm exposure to acids or alkalis (OR = 2.6, CI = 1.1-5.9). In the univariate analysis, safety training did not seem to protect farmers from injuries.

The Iowa Farm Family Health and Hazard Surveillance Project

The Iowa Farm Family Health and Hazard Surveillance Project was a crosssectionalstudy that assessed the health and safety status of Iowa farm families andothers who lived and worked on those farms. Data were collected using acomprehensive mail-out questionnaire that was sent to 989 representative Iowa farmoperators, their families, and hired help. Three hundred and ninety (39%) farmoperators returned the questionnaire. Here, we present an overview of the methods ofthis survey and some illustrative results. We expected that this rural sample would besimilar to urban dwellers surveyed during a national health interview in terms ofaccessing medical care. Instead, this studys farm participants had much less difficultygetting medical care than U.S. farmers questioned in 1987 (3.4% compared with 7.3%,respectively).We found that the average age of all tractors being used by this cohort ofIowa farmers was almost 24 years. Not even 40% of these tractors had Roll OverProtective Structures (ROPS).

Safe Farm: The Impact of an Iowa Public Information Campaign

The 1992 public information campaign, Safe Farm, made farm safety messages available to a diverse and independent target audience of 104,000 full-time and parttime Iowa farm operators and their families. The print portion of the campaign reached 5.03 million Iowa newspaper subscribers. A series of public service announcements received at least 180 h of air time on more than 100 Iowa radio stations and nearly 80,000 farm safety publications were distributed by Iowa State University (ISU) Extension during the campaign. The impact of this public information campaign was measured by a baseline and follow-up telephone survey of 460 Iowa farm operators. The baseline survey showed that farm operators relied heavily on local media for farm safety information, as well as the cooperative extension service.When asked where they obtained safety information, 95% of the respondents said newspapers and magazines, 82% radio, 77% television, 59% relied on publications from ISU Extension, and 33% relied on ISU Extension staff. The follow-up survey measured significant improvements in Iowa farm operators? awareness, concern, and behavior based on three indices composed of scales common to both surveys. A multiple regression analysis was conducted based on a causal model. The multivariate test indicated that these changes could not be statistically attributed to the Safe Farm campaign.

Comparison Between Perceptions of Farm Hazards and Injury Records in Iowa

The ways that Iowa farm operators and extension educators perceive potentialhazards in agricultural operations significantly affects the potential for behavioralchange. Data gathered through separate surveys of farm operators and extensioneducators in Iowa were compared with agricultural injury and fatality data collected bythe Iowa Department of Public Healths SPRAINS project. Statewide results indicatedthat educators and operators perceptions about farm dangers did not correspond toeach other and their perceptions did not correspond to the injury records. Resultsindicated that although many educators and operators in some regions of the state havesimilar perceptions about farm dangers, their perceptions do not agree with actualinjury records. The analysis provides insight into the management of future efforts topromote safety education and to bring about behavioral changes that can reduce risks.

Perspective on Farm Accident Statistics*

ABSTRACT: The frequently cited statistics on farm accidents are based on definitions of farms accidents and on sources of data that exclude some events that could be called farm accidents and that represent only some of all the defensible perspectives on health risks in farming. As a contribution to exploring alternative perspectives on farm accident statistics, mailed surveys of 2,016 Iowa farm operators provided information on accidental injuries in their farm operations during the year preceding the survey. The majority of injuries were home treated, and hence were not events that would be reflected in accident statistics based on medical records. The data allow a breakdown by age, thus enabling an estimate of farm accident rates for children, youth, and the elderly, people whose accidents are typically excluded from farm accident statistics. Data are also presented that provide a farm operator's perspective on farm accidents, showing that many farm operators had knowledge about accidents through their own close calls and through their efforts to assist others who had farm accidents. The farm operator's perspective is also reflected in data indicating greater concern about chemical and air quality health risks than about risks from farm machinery and livestock.

Stress on the Farm: A Test of the life‐Events Perspective Among Iowa Farm Operators*

ABSTRACT:Although a great deal is known about the nature and severity of the recent financial crisis in agriculture, there has been little systematic study of the social and psychological effects of this crisis upon farm operators and their families. Using data from a statewide sample of Iowa farmers, this study tests some hypotheses about correlates of psychological stress. The findings suggest that many farm operators find their situations to be stressful and that such stress is related to the severity of their financial problems. In addition, the life‐events perspective is examined in its utility to explain how adverse economic changes impact psychological well‐being.

An Analysis of the Agricultural and Trade Policy Preferences of Iowa Farm Operators

AbstractMany previous farm policy preference surveys were conducted before full implementation of the Food Security Act of 1985. This post‐implementation analysis of farm policy preferences of Iowa farm operators found high support for continuation of current programs and many of the new provisions included in the 1985 FSA. Also, there was strong support for payment limitations and all international trade policy directions identified. Nine socioeconomic characteristics were analyzed to determine if they were associated with farm policy preferences. Although many of the correlations were significant, the degrees of association were relatively low.

An Analysis of the Agricultural and Trade Policy Preferences of Iowa Farm Operators

Many previous farm policy preference surveys were conducted before full implementation of the Food Security Act of 1985. This post-implementation analysis of farm policy preferences of Iowa farm operators found high support for continuation of current programs and many of the new provisions included in the 1985 FSA. Also, there was strong support for payment limitations and all international trade policy directions identified. Nine socio-economic characteristics were analyzed to determine if they were associated with farm policy preferences. Although many of the correlations were significant, the degrees of association were relatively low.

Incidence, Intensity, and Duration of Financial Stress among Farm Firms

Over the past year, evidence on the extent of farm financial stress became available (Melichar, Jolly). However, policy makers disagree not only about the size and significance of the farm debt problems but also about the type of intervention, if any, that would be appropriate. The objective of this paper is to provide a benchmark for subsequent policy discussion. Financial stress requires definition. The absence of normal profit or returns to factors cause financial stress, yet these same forces drive the allocative mechanism of a market economy. Financial stress occurs when the capacity of an individual or firm or a specific sector of the economy to adjust to the forces causing stress is exceeded. Some stress is essential for efficiency and growth. Too much financial stress may lead to misallocation of resources, undesirable structural change, loss of economic and human capital, needed institutions, and individual well-being. Two surveys are used in this report. The USDA Farm Costs and Returns Survey (FCRS) is a probability-based sample of 23,386 farm operators contacted by enumerators between 15 February and 8 March 1985. Of these initial contacts 73% participated in the survey (Johnson, Baum, and Prescott). The FCRS collected income, cost, and balance sheet data for farm operators. The second data source was a mail survey of 4,700 Iowa farm operators conducted in March 1985. The Iowa Crop Reporting Service requested information on 1984 and 1985 financial conditions and operator characteristics. Approximately 23% of the questionnaires were returned (Jolly and Barkema).

Labor Supply Decisions of Farm Families

Faced with changing economic opportunities, farm operators have increasingly been dividing their work time between self-employed farm work and the wage labor market--a situation that can be best described as multiple labor market participation. By 1969, the year in which the Rural Income Maintenance Experiment (RIME) began, over 54% of all farm operators in the United States had off-farm sources of income, primarily from wage work (U.S. Dep. Commerce). This figure had risen almost ten percentage points since the end of the previous decade. Wage market participation rates of the two samples in the RIME are quite similar to the national averages for farm operators with the respective levels of farm sales. Over 33% of the experiment's Iowa farm operators and 58% of the North Carolina operators held wage jobs at some time during the three experimental years. When the labor market activities of both husbands and wives are considered, in almost 50% of the Iowa farm families and 78% of the North Carolina families either the farm operator, his wife, or both held wage jobs. However, wage work provided only a secondary source of income: for families participating in both labor markets, only about 23% of all earned income in Iowa and 48% of that in North Carolina derived from wage work. These figures for the labor market activities of farm families clearly indicate that a study of their labor supply should focus on both the self-employment and the wage labor markets. Thus, this study analyzes the effects that an experimental negative income tax (NIT) program would have on farm family labor supply given multiple labor market opportunities. Theoretical considerations related to the study are presented, followed by a summary of the actual analysis. The final section of this paper discusses the main findings and places them in the perspective of the overall farm-related analysis conducted as part of the evaluation of the RIME.