Prevalence and Risk Assessment of Aflatoxin in Iowa Corn during a Drought Year.

Warm temperatures and drought conditions in the United States (US) Corn Belt in 2012 raised concern for widespread aflatoxin (AFL) contamination in Iowa corn. To identify the prevalence of AFL in the 2012 corn crop, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) conducted a sample of Iowa corn to assess the incidence and severity of AFL contamination. Samples were obtained from grain elevators in all of Iowa's 99 counties, representing nine crop reporting districts (CRD), and 396 samples were analyzed by IDALS using rapid test methods. The statewide mean for AFL in parts per billion (ppb) was 5.57 ppb. Regions of Iowa differed in their incidence levels, with AFL levels significantly higher in the Southwest (SW; mean 15.13 ppb) and South Central (SC; mean 10.86 ppb) CRD (p < 0.05) regions of Iowa. This sampling demonstrated high variability among samples collected within CRD and across the entire state of Iowa in an extreme weather event year. In years when Iowa has AFL contamination in corn, there is a need for a proactive and preventive strategy to minimize hazards in domestic and export markets.

Gradient boosting machine learning model to predict aflatoxins in Iowa corn.

Introduction: Aflatoxin (AFL), a secondary metabolite produced from filamentous fungi, contaminates corn, posing significant health and safety hazards for humans and livestock through toxigenic and carcinogenic effects. Corn is widely used as an essential commodity for food, feed, fuel, and export markets; therefore, AFL mitigation is necessary to ensure food and feed safety within the United States (US) and elsewhere in the world. In this case study, an Iowa-centric model was developed to predict AFL contamination using historical corn contamination, meteorological, satellite, and soil property data in the largest corn-producing state in the US. Methods: We evaluated the performance of AFL prediction with gradient boosting machine (GBM) learning and feature engineering in Iowa corn for two AFL risk thresholds for high contamination events: 20-ppb and 5-ppb. A 90%-10% training-to-testing ratio was utilized in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2021 (n = 630), with independent validation using the year 2020 (n = 376). Results: The GBM model had an overall accuracy of 96.77% for AFL with a balanced accuracy of 50.00% for a 20-ppb risk threshold, whereas GBM had an overall accuracy of 90.32% with a balanced accuracy of 64.88% for a 5-ppb threshold. The GBM model had a low power to detect high AFL contamination events, resulting in a low sensitivity rate. Analyses for AFL showed satellite-acquired vegetative index during August significantly improved the prediction of corn contamination at the end of the growing season for both risk thresholds. Prediction of high AFL contamination levels was linked to aflatoxin risk indices (ARI) in May. However, ARI in July was an influential factor for the 5-ppb threshold but not for the 20-ppb threshold. Similarly, latitude was an influential factor for the 20-ppb threshold but not the 5-ppb threshold. Furthermore, soil-saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) influenced both risk thresholds. Discussion: Developing these AFL prediction models is practical and implementable in commodity grain handling environments to achieve the goal of preventative rather than reactive mitigations. Finding predictors that influence AFL risk annually is an important cost-effective risk tool and, therefore, is a high priority to ensure hazard management and optimal grain utilization to maximize the utility of the nation's corn crop.

A Qualitative Approach to Understanding Grain Bin Entry Decisions by Youth.

Youths - defined as children under the age of 18 - are frequently involved in agricultural work. Parental assignment, briefing, and supervision of hazardous farm tasks have an influence on youth safety, yet many youths are injured or killed performing these tasks. This research utilized a qualitative approach to analyze why youths choose to make hazardous decisions regarding grain bin entry and factors that played a role in youths' decisions. Because we know that youth are working on the farm, the study's objective was to examine the parent-youth relationship to determine the conditions under which youth would follow or refuse their parents' orders. Ten students who attended a Midwestern land-grant institution were interviewed. Interviewees had experience working inside grain bins, were highly involved in their family farming operations while under 18 years old, and worked under frequent parental supervision. Interviewees shared conditions where they followed their parents' orders even when they knew the task was unsafe. Moreover, participants indicated when they would refuse orders from parents. Findings showed that the primary source of agricultural safety knowledge came from the interviewees' parents. Interviewees did not necessarily demonstrate a "blind trust" in their parents, as they were not willing to follow all orders they were asked to complete. However, all interviewees indicated that their parents would not ask them to do anything unsafe. Many barriers to farm safety were emphasized by the interviewees, which may contribute to youths choosing to make hazardous decisions regarding grain bin entry under some conditions. The research implications are emphasized relative to youth safety outcomes on family farms.

Factors that Influence Farm Safety Decisions of Young Adults when Entering Agricultural Grain Bins.

HIGHLIGHTS A grain handling scenario-based survey was administered to college students studying agriculture. Participants chose an action after reading each scenario and ranked factors affecting their decision-making. Most participants chose a "safe" option and claimed to value their personal safety when making decisions. Parental authority and pressure had little influence on participants' decisions to enter grain bins. ABSTRACT. The approaches that parents take in the supervision of youth who perform hazardous tasks on family farms can affect youth safety outcomes. This research examines the most significant factors affecting youths' decisions to enter agricultural grain storage facilities. Over 200 students attending a Midwestern land-grant university who had grain bin experience as youth completed a decision-making survey. Students chose from a list of actions in three realistic but hypothetical scenarios involving grain bin entry. Afterward, they ranked factors according to the level of importance in their decision. Although most participants chose options that emphasized safety when answering the scenario questions and held the "personal safety" factor in highest regard, some chose higher-risk options and valued "productivity." The findings revealed that youth held little value in their parents' authority and pressure when making decisions related to grain bin entry. The study's limitations are addressed, as are the implications of these findings for youth safety outcomes on family farms.

Using Workers' Compensation Claims Data to Characterize Occupational Injuries in the Commercial Grain Elevator Industry.

Workplace injuries in the grain handling industry are common, yet little research has characterized worker injuries in grain elevators across all hazard types. Learning from past injuries is essential for preventing future occurrences, but the lack of injury information for the grain handling industry hinders this effort. The present study addresses this knowledge gap by using data from over 7000 workers' compensation claims reported from 2008 to 2016 by commercial grain handling facilities in the U.S. to characterize injury costs and severity. The total amount paid for each claim was used as a measure of injury severity. The effects of employee age and tenure, cause of injury, and body part injured on the cost of work-related injuries were investigated. Contingency tables were used to classify the variable pairs. The chi-square test and chi-square residuals were employed to evaluate the relationship between the variable pairs and identify the at-risk groups. Results showed that the employee age and tenure, cause of injury, and body part injured have a significant influence on the cost paid for the claim. Several at-risk groups were identified as a result of the analyses. Findings from the study will assist commercial grain elevators in the development of targeted safety interventions and assist grain elevator safety managers in mitigating financial and social losses from occupational injuries.

Agricultural Worker Injury Comparative Risk Assessment Methodology: Assessing Corn and Biofuel Switchgrass Production Systems.

Keeping workers safe is a continuing challenge in agricultural production. Risk assessment methodologies have been used widely in other industries to better understand systems and enhance decision making, yet their use in production agriculture has been limited. This article describes the considerations and the approach taken to measure the difference in worker injury risks between two agricultural production systems. A model was developed specifically for the comparison of worker injury risk between corn and biofuel switchgrass production systems. The model is composed of injury and exposure values that were used in a Monte Carlo simulation. The output of this risk assessment shows that approximately 99% of the values from the Monte Carlo simulation rank corn production as a greater worker injury risk than biofuel switchgrass production. Furthermore, the greatest contributing factors for each production system were identified as harvest, and that finding aligns with current literature.

Perceptions of Agricultural College Students on the Relationship between Quality and Safety in Agricultural Work Environments.

Agriculture is a high-hazard industry that employs a large number of young workers below the age of 25. Recent studies have documented a strong positive correlation between quality management in agriculture and occupational safety as perceived by agricultural workers. Younger workers have been found to be at higher risk for occupational injuries and fatalities in agriculture. Furthermore, college students in agriculture have minimal exposure to safety and quality management principles in their coursework and thus may not be aware that the two concepts are associated Little research has studied how young workers perceive the relationship between safety and quality and how these perceptions vary based on demographic characteristics. This study builds on prior research that measured the interactions between employee perceptions of safety and quality in an agricultural work environment. Data were collected using a survey instrument adapted from a previously validated instrument. Analysis of 1017 responses showed that students perceived a high impact of quality practices on the reduction of safety hazards and safety incidents. Students' perceptions of quality and safety in agricultural work environments varied by gender, with female students perceiving the relationship between the two at a higher level than males. No significant difference in perceptions was observed based on students' academic classification, age group, field of study, or childhood environment. This study demonstrates that despite limited academic training in safety and quality, pre-professionals perceive the implementation of quality management as a very important factor in mitigating safety hazards and safety incidents. In addition, this study suggests that current academic training in these disciplines must be modified, since no differences in students' perceptions were observed based on academic classification or field of study.