Aging Farmers
Some Facts
· The graying of America, a well-recognized demographic trend, is increasingly evident among our population of older farm operators.
· The average age of farmers within the United States is 54.3 years and
the proportion of farmers age 55 and over has risen from 37% in 1954 to 61% in
1997. (U.S. Agricultural Census)
· In contrast, the share of farmers less than 35 years old has declined
from 15 percent in 1954 to 8 percent in 1997. (U.S. Agricultural Census)
· According to the U.S. Agricultural Census, the only age category
showing a substantial increase included farmers age 70 and older.
· Farmers routinely work beyond the standard retirement age and
frequently farm to an advanced age.
· As self-employed workers, farmers can continue to farm – often at a
reduced scale – after reaching the age at which wage and salary earners have
retired.
· Thus, at a time of physical diminishment, older farmers may face
increased vulnerability to injuries and illness and may continue to perform
tasks beyond their ability to safely accomplish their work.
· Concern over farm health and safety as an issue related to older
farmers has led to beginning research efforts in this are.
· Although information is limited at this time, several studies have
begun to address the needs and challenges currently affecting older farm
operators.
· Older farmers have been said to be a “special population that needs recognition and attention.”
· Daily farming has been found to pose enormous risks to those with
arthritis, limited vision and hearing, depression, and other conditions
associated with age.
· However, with few exceptions, older farmers have been largely
underrepresented in research efforts related to farm health and safety.
· Preliminary findings indicate that:
1. Workers older than 55 accounted for about half of all farming deaths,
with fatality rates 2 1/2 higher than workers under 55. (Penn State News, September
10, 1999 – College of Agricultural Sciences)
2. One in nine farmers aged 55 years of age and older had been involved in
a tractor rollover. (The Kentucky Farm Family Health and Hazard
Surveillance Project)
· Older males working in Kentucky farms face a unique set of health
concerns. (Kentucky Farm Family Health and Hazard Surveillance Project)
1. Falls especially while getting on or off farm equipment and while
taking down tobacco in the barn, were primary causes of injury.
2. Compared with older men in the general population, older farmers were
found to have a higher rate of skin cancer, high blood pressure, arthritis, and
hearing problems.
3. Pesticides, particularly herbicides, may be associated with an
increased risk of an injury while doing farm work.
4. Farmers working on farms with beef cattle or farms with beef cattle and
tobacco had a significant increased risk for a farm-related injury.
· Farmers reporting a prior injury that limited their ability to farm
were at increased risk for a farm related-injury. (Browning, et. al. 1998)
· Two-thirds of Pennsylvania farm fatalities in 1993 involving farmers
older than 65 were tractor related, with a large majority involving an
overturn. (Penn State News,
September 11, 1999)
· Farmers have a 70% greater risk of developing prostate cancer than
non-farmers develop. With older farmers having more than twice the risk of
non-farmers. (Epidemiology, 1999, 10:452-55)
· Farmers appear to be unwilling to recognize or accept their physical
limitations. (FoxMarketWire.com March 14, 2000)
· One Canadian study, addressing work-related mortality in older farmers,
found that older farmers died while performing tasks common to general farm
work, that most were owner-operators, and that many were working alone at the
time of death. (Voaklander, et. al. 1999)
· The overall mortality rate, between 1991 and 1995, in the Canadian farm
population was 32.8 per 100,000 population per year. (Voaklander, et. al. 1999)
· The estimated number of retirement age farm operators in 1993 was 634,000. (Hoppe, 1996)
· However, only 17% of these or 352,000 farm operators considered
themselves retired. (Hoppe, 1996)
· Non retired elderly operators accounted for the balance or 282,000.
(Hoppe, 1996)
· Non retired farm operators worked on an average of 1,685 hours on their
farms per year. (Hoppe, 1996)
· In contrast retired operators worked an average of only 685 hours per
year. (Hoppe, 1996)
· Unlike the rest of the population, it appears that farmers tend to
remain in farming beyond the normal retirement age.
· It is not surprising to see farmers in their 70s still farming
full-time.
· A survey conducted in 13 western Illinois counties revealed that
farmers in the region were twice as likely to continue working beyond age 65 as
their cohort in other jobs. (Aces News, University of Illinois, July 12,
2000)
· Of the nearly 1,700 farmers who responded to the survey, 25 percent
were 65 years of age or older. Whereas,
nationally, only 13/14% of workers 65 and over are still on the job. (Aces
News, University of Illinois, July 12, 2000)
· Of the 25% of farmers 65 or older in this survey, the average age was
73. A third of the 25% were 75 years of
age or older and had been farming for 46 years. And 16% were 80 years of age or older. (Aces News, U of I, July 12, 2000)
· One study (Reed, 2000) seeking to identify the factors that influence
farmers older than 50 to continue physical farm labor, found that:
1. Only farmers with severe physical limitations had completely retired
from physical farm labor.
2. Mental tasks, such as computerized records and design of new farm
programs, were the first to be relinquished.
3. Tasks involving heavy lifting, climbing, and repetitive motion ceased
when physical limitation precluded their completion without excessive pain.
4. Machinery assisted work, especially tractor driving, continued unless
the farmer moved away from the farm.
5. Older farmers were frequently used as reserve labor by the succeeding
generation.
6. Factors that influenced continued labor included liking the work,
generational passage of the farm, and physical stamina.
7. Education, income, and marital status had little influence.
Other
Pertinent Information
· Review of farm literature suggests that farms more than other businesses, are still family enterprises, providing a basis for work patterns, leisure time, and social life. (Keating and Munro, 1989)
· Farms are also 5 times more likely to pass from generation to
generation than any other business.
(Keating and Munro, 1989)
· The process of intergenerational farm transfer is rather complex
allowing the older farmer to remain engaged in the farm enterprise. Control is usually relinquished in pieces,
with the older farmer hanging on to the parts that are most central to the
business. (Keating and Munro, 1989)
· Thus, problems posed by retirement may less stressful for the older
farmers, since full retirement is seldom a choice.
· When they do decide to leave the farm, they tend to remain in the
community allowing them to maintain contact with family and friends and to
retain at least part of their position of power. (Hoppe, 1996)
· Older Farmers: Factors Affecting Their Retirement
Decisions, recently funded by the
Center for Farm Health and Safety, University of Washington. The study seeks to
address agricultural health and safety research on older male farmers, age 65
to 80. Specifically, it proposes to
examine how age may become a serious factor when considering potential risk for
injuries among a population where an estimates 1/4 of all farm operators are 65
years of age or older. Date for the
proposed exploratory descriptive study has been gathered through recorded
in-depth semi-structured personal interviews with a snowball sample of 30 older
farmers from Whitman and Franklin Counties in Eastern WA. The study focuses on those factors, which
may influence whether older farmers chose to retire or remain engaged with the
farm. Areas of inquiry have been framed along dimensions extrapolated from the
literature including 1) economic circumstances; 2) issues related to loss of
power in transferring the farm; as well as, 3) the loss of place identity that
may be experienced in the process.
Additionally, potential risk factors, which may contribute to increased
injuries among this older male population (i.e., self-reported health status,
current use of prescription medications, and self-reported prevalence of health
conditions) are explored. At present
all personal interviews have been completed.
These are in the process of being transcribed. Principal investigator is Maria C. Hernandez-Peck, Ph.D.,
Director, Center for Studies in Aging, Eastern Washington University, Cheney,
WA.
· Older Farmers and Retirement is currently underway at the University of New England, New South
Wales, Australia. This project funded
by Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation seeks to
provide a deeper understanding of the meaning and experience of farm families
in Northern Australia. It is part of an
overall research effort to understand the impact of a multitude of forces and
factors having an impact on rural Australia.
The research project involves a comprehensive literature review, the
conduct of focus groups and interviews in four areas of northern NSW and the
development and evaluation of a retirement planning and education program
designed to meet the needs of farmers and their families.
· Older farm operators have been traditionally excluded as an identifiable population from gerontological literature involving rural elderly.
· A most recent report by the Department of Health and Human Services on
Aging and Health fails to identify older farmers as a distinct population.
· Similarly, mental health needs of older farmers appear to go unnoticed
in the most recent Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health.
· Research undertakings addressing the needs of rural elderly should include older farmers as an identifiable population.
· Given preliminary findings of small pilot projects, consideration
should be given to a larger study under NIOSH for a more in-depth understanding
of older farmers, their retirement patterns, and health and safety
concerns. This should be a multiple
site study.
· Further research is needed on the experiences of older farmers who have
successfully retired.
· Partnerships have been suggested as a means of increasing the efforts in the area of farm Health and Safety. However, the question arises as to what extent partnerships have been explored with the existing network of services to the aged funded under Title III of the Older Americans Act.
· Similarly, coordination and joint efforts between existing University
based Centers on Aging and Centers for Farm Health and Safety should be further
encouraged.