Farmers' Aging Likely Factor in Rising Fatalities

Summary

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For the last three years, farm-related deaths have held steady at about 22 deaths per year. That all changed during the past year.

Country Insurance & Financial Services staff have tracked farm- related deaths via newspaper stories for more than a decade. From July 1, 2004, to June 30, 2005, 31 people died in farm-related accidents, a 48 percent increase from the previous year.

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Extract

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Farmers' Aging Likely Factor in Rising Fatalities

In fact, the 21 deaths reported from July 1, 2003, through June 30, 2004, represented a 25-year low.

What happened during the last year? Bob Aherin, University of Illinois Extension agricultural safety specialist, believes several factors may be at play.

First, farmers are an aging group. The average age of Central Illinois farmers is about 56. Of the deaths recorded during the past year, 19 occurr...

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