URBANA, Ill. – More than half (51 percent) of the 893,000 children who live on U.S. farms also work on those farms. An additional 265,000 youth are hired to work on U.S. farms each year, and another 25 million youth visit a U.S. farm as a guest.

This provides a lot of opportunities for on-farm mishaps, and statistics reveal the sad truth: a highly significant number of injuries and fatalities on farms are to children and teens. A recent University of Illinois farmdoc webinar looked at youth safety on farms, while covering effective ways to train young workers and ensure safe behavior by all who visit a farm or ranch.

“When a child is injured or a child dies in an agricultural or rural community, the whole community suffers,” said Jana Davidson, program manager for Progressive Agriculture Foundation, who co-hosted the webinar, “Farm Safety for Youth: Keeping the Next Generation Safe,” with Salah Issa, U of I assistant professor and Extension specialist. “The loss of that child will be felt not just for weeks and months, but forever.”

Davidson produced slides illustrating that injury and fatality rates for youth in agricultural jobs greatly outpace all other industries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Occupational Injuries. Every day, about 33 children are injured in agriculture-related accidents, with vehicles (primarily ATVs and UTVs) the leading cause of injury among working youth. Livestock are a leading cause of injury to non-working youth who visit farms, statistics show.

“The positive news is that child deaths and injuries are starting to go down (in numbers annually). However, in 2016, young workers in agriculture were 7.8 times more likely to be fatally injured compared to all other industries. This serves to illustrate just how dangerous agriculture can be,” said Davidson, whose Progressive Ag Foundation offers free on-farm safety education and hosts annual national ag safety day programs.

A deeper dive into statistics shows that an estimated 104 deaths per year occur to children on farms. Another 22,000 emergency room visits and an estimated 78,000 injuries not seen in an emergency department can also be credited to on-farm mishaps to youth.

“Many agricultural work-related injuries and deaths are associated with children doing work that does not match their developmental level,” Davidson said. “The top three causes of fatal injuries are machinery, motor vehicles and drowning. The top three non-fatal causes are falls, animals and machinery or vehicles. The total economic impact of non-fatal youth agricultural injuries is an estimated $1.26 billion per year, and can wipe out an individual family’s annual profits in just days, depending on the severity.”

Other illness and health issues affecting youth on farms are COVID and zoonotic diseases, hearing and vibration, dust and molds, and mental illness.

Davidson stressed that to limit the chances of farm-related work injuries or illnesses to youth, administrators should assign only tasks that match a worker’s ability. To assess a youth worker’s capabilities, she recommends that employers and parents follow Agricultural Youth Work Guidelines (AYWG) available online at CultivateSafety.org/AYWG.

For hired youth, employers should consult the AYWG in tandem with their Hired Agricultural Youth Guidelines (HAYWG). In addition to offering guidance on the training and supervising of young workers, the resources provide information on federal youth employment regulations, access to state child labor laws and more.

According to the AYWG, before assigning work to youth, supervisors should assess physical and cognitive abilities and experience with similar or precursor tasks, while also requiring repeated successful demonstration of tasks under supervision. Supervisors also must provide training and enforce policies.

Part of the webinar was devoted to identifying tasks that are prohibited by youth labor laws, including those under age 16 operating tractors over 20 PTO hp, transporting, transferring or applying anhydrous ammonia and working inside a grain bin.

“(Youth) don’t understand the risks and the hazards” associated with grain bin entrapment, according to Issa, who recently completed a new U of I database of farm-related injuries and deaths in the state in an effort to better understand the causes. “Over a 60-year period, we have documented over 1,200 cases (of grain entrapments or engulfments). Out of those cases, 28 percent involved youth under the age of 20. The majority of these incidents are fatal.”

Interestingly, the data revealed that the majority of annual on-farm youth injuries and fatalities do not occur to those actually employed by a farm. 

“Sixty percent of ag-related child injuries occur to children who are not working. A lot of times they are in areas they are not supposed to be, or in the blind spot of a worker operating machinery. Some may be in a situation with livestock or machinery in an area they shouldn’t be,” Davidson said.

The webinar is part of an ongoing farmdoc series, “Cultivating Caution: A Monthly Guide to Farm Safety and Health.” Future series installments include:

Sept. 17: Addressing Mental Stress and Health in Agriculture

Oct. 15: Resources for Farmers in Crisis

Nov. 19: Future of Ag Safety: How will AI Transform Agriculture

The series of webinars may be viewed online at farmdoc.illinois.edu/webinars.