Harvest of need: addressing health and safety challenges on North Carolina's farms.

Abstract

Agriculture is North Carolina's leading source of revenue and its most dangerous industry. This issue brief, along with the commentaries and sidebars in the associated policy forum, addresses the complexity of agricultural health and safety in North Carolina and concludes that the following activities are crucial to reducing the incidence of agricultural illness, injury, and death in the state: (1) positive promotion of safe and healthy farms, (2) increased funding for existing programs, (3) creation of a task force to develop a dedicated, comprehensive surveillance system for agricultural illness, injury, and fatality, (4) increased emphasis on and funding for training of health care professionals and emergency response personnel in agricultural health and safety, (5) funding to expand farm health and safety programs to all 100 counties, and (6) strong collaborations to further develop and strengthen a seamless, holistic system for addressing the state's agricultural health and safety needs.