About Us

Monday, March 18, 2024

About AgInjuryNews.org

The AgInjuryNews.org database is both a repository of injury reports and valuable information source for agricultural injuries, fatalities, and agricultural injury prevention methods. This system allows users to: 1) monitor trends in types of agricultural injuries, 2) identify new injury agents and emerging issues in agriculture, 3) provide safety messages for media reports in anticipation of trends, and 4) raise awareness and knowledge of agricultural injuries and prevention strategies for adults and children.

*There is no official national dataset of all agricultural injuries and fatalities, however news reports can be helpful in understanding the scope of the problem.

National Farm Medicine Center

The National Farm Medicine Center (NFMC) was established in 1981 in response to occupational health problems seen in farm patients coming to Marshfield Clinic. The center continues to focus its research and outreach on rural populations. Current safety and health priorities include children, agritourism, young farmers and ranchers, and injury surveillance. Farm Center scientists and staff address these issues with special expertise in injury prevention, public health, bioinformatics, nursing, anthropology, education and communications. Since 1997, the NFMC has been home to the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety (NCCRAHS). Visit site

Funding

Funding for the AgInjuryNews program has been made possible, in part, by the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety through the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Cooperative Agreement U54 OH009568, a cooperative agreement award for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Funding support was also provided through a safety grant from the Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America (ASHCA). Additional funding support provided by the University of Wisconsin Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program, through the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), grant UL1TR002373, and through collaborators, donors, and friends of the National Farm Medicine Center, part of the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute.

National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety

The National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety (NCCRAHS) is one of 11 centers funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the only center that is both national and focused solely on children. The mission of NCCRAHS is to enhance the health and safety of all children exposed to hazards associated with agricultural work and rural environments. Visit site

Getting Involved

If you would like to get involved with the AgInjuryNews.org project or any of NFMC’s research, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Core Team

Bryan Weichelt PhD, MBA, Associate Research Scientist, NFMC
Serap Gorucu PhD, University of Florida
Christopher Benny Research Coordinator, NFMC
Rick Burke MPH, Research Specialist, NFMC
Matt Pilz Senior Software Engineer, NFMC
Chris Wanat Research Coordinator, NFMC
Juan Saucedo Research Coordinator, NFMC/CCEPH

Internal Advisors

Barbara C. Lee PhD, Senior Research Scientist, NCCRAHS Director
Casper G Bendixsen PhD, Research Scientist, NFMC Director
Marsha Salzwedel EdD, Project Scientist, Youth Ag Safety Specialist
Scott Heiberger MS, Health Communications Manager
Andrea Swenson PhD, Project Scientist, Evaluation

IT Development and Support Team

Matt Pilz Software Engineer, Senior (Lead Dev Support)
John Begotka Business Analyst
Richard Duerr Programmer/Analyst
Julia Edbrooke User Experience Designer
Evan Ellis Programmer/Analyst
Nic Johnson Programmer/Analyst
Jenna Kautza User Experience Designer
Mike Klein Programmer/Analyst
Alex Nelson Programmer/Analyst
Matt Podborny Programmer/Analyst
Jesse Richardson Applications Analyst
Murphy Stevens Programmer/Analyst
Steve Tingum Programmer/Analyst
Joe Vechinski Development Manager
Adeel Aslam Solutions Architect

National Steering Committee

Amanda Wickman MBA, SW Ag Center, U of TX
Michael Lubahn Rural Mutual Insurance Company
Brandi Janssen PhD, U of Iowa
Erika Scott PhD, NYCAMH, Basset Health
Jess McCluer ASHCA; National Grain and Feed Association
Jameson Bair (BLS) WI Bureau of Labor Statistics
Jana Davidson Progressive Ag Foundation
Kang Namkoong PhD, U of Maryland
Lisa Lundy PhD, U of Florida, Ag Education and Communication
Marcy Harrington PNASH, U of Washington
Risto Rautiainen PhD, CS-CASH, U of Nebraska
Tomi Heimonen PhD, U of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Vanessa Galvan Zeneth Insurance
Marcel Hacault Canadian Ag Safety Assoc.
Dennis Murphy PhD, Penn State University

Special Acknowledgements

Emily Redmond
Stephen Oesch JD
Harold Ye PhD
Mark Purschwitz PhD
William Field PhD
Murray Madsen
Kelsi Musil
Wayne Sanderson PhD