Rural Project Examples Addressing Farmers and farmworkers

Salud es Vida Cervical Cancer Education
Updated/reviewed January 2023

Need: Hispanic women have the highest incidence rates of cervical cancer among any ethnicity in the United States.
Intervention: The development of a lay health worker (promotora) curriculum that provided information on cervical cancer, HPV, and the HPV vaccine to Hispanic farmworker women living in rural southern Georgia and South Carolina.
Results: Significant increases in post-test scores relating to cervical cancer knowledge and increases in positive self-efficacy among promotoras.

HEAR on the Farm
Updated/reviewed November 2022

Need: To increase use of hearing protection among farmers and farmworkers.
Intervention: Researchers mailed an assortment of hearing protection devices to farmers and provided web-based information (interactive or static) about hearing conservation to see which method or combination of methods was most effective.
Results: All participants increased their use of hearing protection. The largest increase occurred among those who received a sampler of hearing protection devices in the mail.

Farm Dinner Theater
Updated/reviewed August 2022

Need: To encourage farmers to make health and safety changes on their farms.
Intervention: Farm Dinner Theater is an event in which farmers and their families watch three 10-minute plays covering health and safety topics and then discuss solutions to the issues addressed in each.
Results: In a study, farmers who attended the plays were more likely to make changes and tell others what they learned, compared to farmers who received an educational packet with the same information.

Tomah Hearing Loss Prevention Outreach
Updated/reviewed November 2022

Need: Farmers are highly susceptible to permanent hearing loss due to prolonged exposure to loud machinery and livestock.
Intervention: Faculty and students from the audiology department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison supplied earplugs, free hearing testing, and hearing loss prevention education to attendees and participants at a local tractor pull.
Results: More than 16,000 pairs of earplugs have been distributed, and attendees have been receptive to the hearing loss prevention education provided by the audiology team.

Farm Assessment and Rehabilitation Methods (FARM) Program
Updated/reviewed February 2023

Need: To help farmers with disabilities continue farming while protecting their well-being.
Intervention: The FARM program helps disabled or ill farmers continue to operate and work their Wisconsin farms.
Results: Since 2009, the FARM Program has helped over 3,500 farmers continue to farm, resume farming, or find an alternative agricultural occupation.

AGRIMEDIC
Updated/reviewed December 2022

Need: To reduce farm injuries and improve EMS and fire/rescue's response to these injuries in rural Louisiana and Mississippi.
Intervention: AGRIMEDIC is a two-day training for first responders.
Results: 810 first responders have received training.

Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties (HCC)
Added December 2022

Need: To increase access to healthy foods in two rural Nevada counties.
Intervention: HCC and the Rural Health and Nutrition Initiative (RHNI) run food pantries, community and school gardens, a farmers market, and a greenhouse.
Results: The three food pantries together serve about 3,600 people and distribute over 100,000 pounds of food each month.

The Coffee Break Project
Added July 2022

Need: Men in the agriculture industry face high suicide rates due to factors including long hours, geographic isolation, lack of social opportunities, and stigma surrounding mental health care.
Intervention: The Coffee Break Project, a program led by the Southeast Health Group in southeastern Colorado, encourages mental health check-ins for farmers and ranchers through a public awareness campaign and casual coffee gatherings that utilize COMET, an intervention model developed specifically for rural communities.
Results: Between eight and 20 people typically attend each coffee gathering.

Minnesota Farm & Rural Helpline
Updated/reviewed July 2021

Need: To connect farmers in stress with needed resources.
Intervention: The Minnesota Farm & Rural Helpline and website connect callers with counselors, help with daily living (like childcare or food assistance), and financial/legal advice.
Results: In 2020, the helpline received 104 calls, and the website had more than 7,000 visits.

Safe Farming, Safe Living
Updated/reviewed December 2020

Need: In 2014, the Avera St. Benedict Health Center's emergency department experienced a drastic increase in the amount of Hutterite patients with farm-related injuries.
Intervention: The South Dakota Critical Access Hospital created a program to educate Hutterite communities on farm hazards and safe work practices.
Results: Since the program began in 2015, the Avera St. Benedict emergency department has had no life-threatening agricultural injury admissions from the Hutterite communities. Attendees have said their confidence in their ability to identify hazards has increased, and more of them are using safety equipment on a regular basis.

Rural Project Examples: Farmers and farmworkers