The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

4060.0: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 - Board 7

Abstract #48205

Report on a population-based minority and female farm operator occupational health survey

Andrea L Steege, MPH and Toni Alterman, PhD. NIOSH, CDC, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226, 513 841-4538, asteege@cdc.gov

The Census of Agriculture, conducted by United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA/NASS) since 1997, includes self-reported racial and ethnic demographic information on farm operators. Racial information includes minority groups such as African-American or Black, American Indian, and Asian Pacific Islander. Ethnic information is limited to the choice of “Spanish, Hispanic or Latino.” According to the NASS data for 1997, there are approximately two million farm operators in the US with approximately 50,000 of these being minority farm operators. In addition to minority operators, there are approximately 27,700 farm operators who are “Spanish, Hispanic or Latino.” Although the number of farms administered by white operators has been decreasing, the number of Latino and female operated farms has been increasing. For example, NASS statistics reported 165,102 female operated farms in 1997, up from 131,641 in 1987. This same pattern is seen with Latino operators. NASS’s ownership of racial and ethnic information has made it possible to choose a population-based sample of minority farm operators along with a comparison group of white and female operators selected from all 50 states. In 2001, NIOSH investigators in collaboration with NASS, conducted a bilingual telephone survey with follow-up in-person interviews to collect information on: occupational history, respiratory symptoms, musculoskeletal problems, dermatitis, hearing loss, mental health, disability, safety awareness, smoking and tobacco use, health insurance and access to medical care. This presentation will provide a summary of preliminary data from this survey based on interviews with approximately 7,000 farm operators.

Learning Objectives:

Keywords: Minority Health, Rural Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Poster Session II

The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA