Disappointing Rise in Farm Deaths in '07 in Indiana

Bill Field has served as ag safety specialist in Indiana for more than 30 years. Since he came to Purdue University as an Extension ag engineer and began developing farm safety education and training programs, the average annual death rate for farmers and farm workers killed in farm accidents ahs declined. But 2007 was an upward blip on the radar screen.

"From the long-term point of view since I've been here, it's still clear that the number of deaths per year caused by farm accidents is declining, over time," Field says. "Unfortunately, there were more deaths last year than the year before."

The 2006 year featured one of the lowest number of farmers or farm workers killed in Indiana's history, with only eight deaths reported to Field's staff. While there is not an official count of farm accidental deaths, Field and his staff maintain a clipping service and do the best job possible to collect information about each fatal farm accident each year. One reason for keeping the statistics is to watch for things that might be occurring that could be remedied.

The unofficial number of deaths in '07 released in a preliminary report, Field says, is 24. However, that number could go up as others review the report. Sometimes a farmer or farm worker transported to an out-of-state hospital, who later dies, isn't always included in the original count, depending upon how the local paper in his area reports or doesn't report the incident.

Field is disappointed, but not panicked by the three-fold increase from '06 to '07. The '06 number was extremely low. The 24 killed in '07 is still lower than many of the 30-plus years Field has served as ag safety director at Purdue.