Conference With Chip Petrea....One Shoe Does Not Fit All

This past Friday, I had a phone conference with Chip Petrea. Mr. Petrea is a principal research specialist on Ag safety and health at the University of Illinois. He is highly involved in the Illinois AgrAbility Project, as well as the Ag Safety and Health Network. Mr. Petrea’s passion stems from his first hand experience of injury on the farm. In a previous blog post, I mentioned the article on Mr. Petrea in “Beyond the Bean”, which explains Mr. Petrea’s main focus- educating other farmers on farm safety in a unique way.

Here is a summary of my conference with Mr. Petrea:

1. I asked him about the points he covers in his presentations on farm safety.

His response was that he tries not to focus on the “do’s and don’ts”, but he will give basic advice. For an example, he usually recommends farmers to purchase ROPS, which is a structure that is similar to a car roof, but on a tractor. He also recommends that all farmers wear seatbelts in the tractor if the tractor provides it. He told me that he focuses on behavior, and how that might affect farm safety. For an example, many farmers allow their children to drive the combine down the road, but is that safe? In small farming communities, many people give their children a little more freedom- it is a different culture. Mr. Petrea said that he studies these types of behaviors and identifies the specific behaviors that are largely contributing to farm- related accidents.

2. I inquired about how stress of a farmer differs from the stress of a regular civilian, and how that stress might distort behaviors in a farming community.

Mr. Petrea explained that much of farmers’ stress comes with meeting demands. When it comes to farming as a profession, there are not many ways to be flexible in meeting their demands, which largely differs from the more freely given flexibility in normal civilian life. Additionally, he explained that farming communities are very different in general because it is a much tighter community. This means that an individual in a rural community is unlikely to be accepted as a member of society if he or she does not agree with the common views on religion, politics, parenthood, etc. These pressures greatly impact the way of life in a farming community. As a result, similar behaviors seem more common and stress seems to be augmented in a farming community.

3. Lastly, I asked what happens to farmers that get injured on the farm, and if there are any programs currently in place to cater specifically to farmers upon injury.

Mr. Petrea says that there are 24 registered states for the Disabled Farmers Program. He says that many farmers who get injured, however, do not reach out to this program either because it requires too much paperwork for the result, because the farm agents are unaware and uninformed, or because of some other reason. He explained that this is not the fault of the program itself- it is very hard to reach out to farmers in need. Although many farmers check their emails to receive notifications about programs, many still remain disconnected- maybe because they ignore it or aren’t interested at the time. Mr. Petrea is confident that many farmers need convincing to get aid. Many are too afraid to reach out for help on their own, because they know that it might mean rehabilitation and time away from the farm. In terms of on- site assistance upon occurrence of a farm accident, Mr. Petrea told me that there is no direct training that the government provides in case of farm accidents specifically. Therefore, rescue teams must apply what they do in case of a car accident to farm accidents. Once the injured farmer is transferred to the hospital, he or she is provided the same treatment as those that suffer from automobile injuries. Mr. Petrea highlighted the point that in case of farm accident, there is no help specifically for farmers either on the sight of the accident, or for farmers’ medical treatment following the accident. Many farmers are provided with prosthetic designs that work efficiently in normal civilian’s life, but are not designed for the tasks involved in a farmer’s life.

I have synthesized from this interview and from other resources I have been studying this month that there needs to be aid given to farmers that is modeled to help them specifically. One of the main resources I investigated was Obama care, and how it will affect farmers specifically as a group. The answer is that farmers will be affected the same as every other citizen- there is no provision in Obama care that caters specifically to farmers. In other words, “one shoe fits all” through Obama care. Through my research, I have approached a conclusion. Farmers have a very unique way of life, and their needs should be catered to specifically through both economic and medical aid. I believe that the enhancement of these specific programs would be a great investment in America’s time and money. After all, farmers are the future… especially with the rapid increase in global population and world hunger.