In the 1960s research was conducted by the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute on respiratory diseases common in dairy farmers. Dean Emanuel identified maple bark disease among paper mill workers. In 1964, a culture technique developed by Emanuel and Fritz Wenzel to identify the causative agent for "farmer's lung", a chronic, progressive, inflammation in the lungs of farmers. By 1971 intervention and education programs targeting farmers were developed in cooperation with the University of WisconsinAgricultural Research Station, located in Marshfield. Discussions were held in 1980 and came to fruition in 1981 with the formation of an agricultural medicine center in Marshfield.
Organization
The center is directed by Casper G. Bendixsen, PhD. Its staff of 10+ includes five PhD level scientists, along with support staff. Past directors include Barbara C. Lee, PhD and Matthew C. Keifer. Since 1997, the center has been home to the National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, It is one of 11 Centers for Agricultural Disease and Injury Research, Education and Prevention funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of the center's funding comes from competitive government grants and contracts. Other sources of funding are private foundations, corporations, partnerships and donations.
Education and outreach
The National Farm Medicine Center hosts summer interns who are involved in research projects, farm visits, and field work.
Research
The research areas this center participates in includes
Integrated Pediatric Primary Care and Child Farm Safety
Wisconsin Rollover Protective StructureRebate Program—In 2014 the National Tractor Safety Coalition was created in Chicago, IL. The coalition has 80 members including the National Farm Medicine Center. More than 10 years of research has gone into tractor overturns and the importance of Roll Over Protection Structures. Now 70% of ROPS can be paid for to farmers retrofitting an older tractor with a system.
AgInjuryNews.org – an up-to-date collection of agricultural injury and fatality reports, primarily derived from news reports. A portion of the data was published in Injury Prevention in 2018 and a subset was analyzed for prevention message inclusion in media reports, published in 2017. Another subset of the data analyzed from AgInjuryNews.org has described an ongoing issues of youth injuries and young operators of skid steers on U.S. farms and ranches. This work has led to further investigation of injury surveillance gaps, and challenges with injury coding systems and the potential to couple multiple systems for improved coding outcomes.
