An interdisciplinary team in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, in collaboration with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, a conservation nonprofit working with farmers, has received a $250,000 grant from the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. The team will use the funding to study how conservation agriculture practices - efforts to minimize damage to soil health and the natural ecosystem - affect the well-being of dairy farm workers and farm families.
The project, "Examining the Impacts of Conservation Agriculture on Farm Workforce Well-Being," is led by Kathleen Sexsmith, assistant professor of rural sociology. Project team members include Florence Becot, the Nationwide Insurance Early Career Professor and lead of Penn State's Agricultural Safety and Health Program, and Adrian Barragan, associate research professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences, from Penn State; and Mauricio Rosales, senior agriculture projects manager, and Alexandra Neumann, agriculture projects manager, with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, also known as the Alliance.
Sexsmith said the research will explore an often-overlooked aspect of agricultural sustainability: the social and workplace impacts of conservation agriculture practices on the farmers and workers who perform them.
Conservation agriculture practices - such as cover cropping, reduced tillage, manure management strategies and riparian forest buffers - can support environmental stewardship, profitability and long-term farm viability. However, researchers note that these practices also can create new workplace challenges for dairy farmers and farm workers.
"Conservation agriculture discussions often focus on environmental outcomes and farm management practices, but there also is an important human dimension," Sexsmith said. "This project will help us better understand how conservation practices shape the daily experiences, safety and well-being of the people working on dairy farms."
She said previous research has shown that farmers and farm workers on sustainable operations may experience benefits such as reduced chemical exposure, improved herd health, greater job satisfaction and expanded knowledge of sustainable practices. At the same time, implementing conservation agriculture practices can lead to longer work hours, physical fatigue, increased heat exposure and uncertainty about how additional labor and effort are valued.
According to Sexsmith, these workforce-related concerns may represent a barrier to broader adoption of conservation agriculture practices. To address this gap, the project team will develop a Conservation Agriculture Workforce Well-Being Assessment Tool. The tool will be informed by sociological case study research conducted across six dairy farms that implement conservation agriculture practices.
The assessment framework will examine three primary dimensions of workforce well-being: occupational safety and health risks, working schedules and compensation, and work satisfaction. Researchers will gather perspectives from all members of the dairy farm workforce, including farm owners, family-based workers, seasonal employees and permanent hired workers.
The Alliance team will use the assessment tool within its extensive network of farms to better understand workforce well-being needs and tailor future conservation programming, educate stakeholders and advocate for farm project funding.
"We have seen the tremendous impact that the conservation practices have on the lives of our farmers," Rosales said. "However, we have little understanding of the social effects of our projects. This partnership with Penn State will finally enable us to measure these impacts."
The team also will develop an educational program for farmers and conservation agriculture professionals focused on supporting workforce well-being under conservation-focused farm management systems.
The project reflects the college's broad approach to advancing agricultural sustainability research, extending beyond environmental best practices to include the social and human dimensions of farming systems, Sexsmith noted.
