U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

Labor Shortage Poses Safety Challenges for Growing Agritourism Industry



Details

  • Personal Author:
    Salzwedel, Marsha
  • Description:
    Trends: Agritourism is increasingly popular, generating the need for additional employees. Given the labor shortages in the U.S., this motivates producers on agritourism operators to develop strategies to address the labor shortages, some of which could impact worker safety. Research and current initiatives: Contributing factors to labor shortages in agriculture include the aging workforce, declining rural populations, the stressful nature of agricultural work, long hours and less labor intensive options. Foreign labor has been impacted by immigration policy changes, H2A program inefficiencies and the recent pandemic. Staffing agritourism operations is further complicated by the need for seasonal employees and staff with varying skill sets, such as hospitality, food service, and retail; industries with critical labor shortages. Some strategies agritourism operators employ to address staff shortages (e.g. employees work longer hours, hiring younger staff) may impact safety. Collaborations between producers and safety professionals could help develop strategies to address labor shortages while ensuring worker safety. Gaps in knowledge, regulation and practice: More information is needed on employees on agritourism operations including the number of employees, hours worked, tasks performed, safety training provided, impact of customers in worksites, injuries incurred, current strategies employed to address the labor shortages, and motivators for staff to participate in safety training. Recommendations for the future: Research is needed to address the gaps in knowledge previously mentioned, and the information gathered used to develop recommendations, safety strategies and resources to help agritourism operators employ effective recruitment and retention strategies that also help establish a safe working environment. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • ISSN:
    1059-924X
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Cooperative Agreement
  • Genre:
    Journal Article
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • Pages in Document:
    5 pdf pages
  • Volume:
    28
  • Issue:
    1
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20067461
  • Citation:
    J Agromedicine 2023 Jan; 28(1):53-56
  • Contact Point Address:
    Marsha Salzwedel, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute - National Farm Medicine Center, Marshfield, Wisconsin, USA
  • Email:
    salzwedel.marsha@marshfieldresearch.org
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2023
  • NORA Priority Area:
    Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
  • Performing Organization:
    Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation
  • Peer Reviewed:
    True
  • Start Date:
    20080930
  • Source Full Name:
    Journal of Agromedicine
  • End Date:
    20250929
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:ceab05994838edb6f9f8ee6828eb5e31e6f905199d928ffbf23be11f187fc2ed2f6941fe4850f53a42e9202b9f2c247e0239f536b6451cd7cdc5c02c077acc33
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 606.56 KB ]
PREVIOUS
ON THIS PAGE
Details
CDC STACKS serves as an archival repository of CDC-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other public health information authored or co-authored by CDC or funded partners.

As a repository, CDC STACKS retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
BACK TO TOP