Scott Webb (Host): Technological and safety advancements in ag, like autonomous machines, rollover protective structures (ROPS), GPS, and more, are making things safer on farms. But with these advancements, there may be new and different safety concerns. And joining me today to discuss things is Dr. Salah Issa. He's an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Industrial Safety and Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Welcome to Let's Talk with Carle Health, a podcast featuring Carle doctors, partners, and other experts, bringing you topics important to your health and wellness. Today's podcast is made possible through funding from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health via the National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety Emerging Issues Program. Learn more about the Carle Center for Rural Health and Farm Safety by visiting carle.org/farmsafety. That's C-A-R-L-E.org/farmsafety for resources, information, tips, and more. Let us help keep you and your family healthy and safe. I'm Scott Webb. So, doctor, thanks for your time today. We're going to talk today about technology, right? We're talking about technological advances and dangers in agriculture. So as we get rolling here, what forms of technology have changed the safety of agriculture from the past?

Dr. Salah Issa: You know, the history of mechanization in agriculture is fascinating. So, you could think about tractors, right? If you ask somebody to draw a farm nowadays, there's always would be a tractor there. But that, as a technology, came originally in early 1900s. And it just grew so slowly, but you still have these features being added one at a time, right? So originally, they had steel wheels that eventually converted into rubber. They found a way to safely transfer energy from the tractor to other implements through what we now call a PTO.

But as they continue developing this, they've started seeing that there's a lot of people dying, because the tractors are getting overturned. And it took really until the 1960s and '70s that we ended up with having research findings and we've had technology focused solely on the safety of the tractor. So, one thing they developed is called ROPS, rollover protective structures. And by building those, now the person is within a cage of steel in a sense. So when the tractor rolls over, it protects him from being crushed. You'll still see some injuries, but he won't get crushed. That technology, it got adopted so slowly, it took a while, so that really until 2007 or so, we still only had around 60% adoption of this technology. But when we've looked at European markets where they reached 80% adoption rates, the amount of deaths from a tractor overturning flatlined, reached zero almost.

So, you see all this in a sense as this story of mechanization and agriculture. We first focused on the mechanization, then we started focusing on that safety aspect afterwards. We're now going through a new era of mechanization, you could say autonomy in a sense, where now our machines are driving themselves. And this is something that I'm very interested to do, how can safety be the message from the very beginning so that we could ensure that we continue to improve the safety of farms around the U.S.

Host: Yeah. Fighting the good fight, of course. And I'm glad you brought up autonomy. We've heard of self-driving cars. Are there self-driving tractors? What's going on on the farm in terms of autonomy and how might it change things for the future, what things are in development, that sort of thing?

Dr. Salah Issa: So, I think of self-driving tractors, and there's several examples that are currently being tested are in field right now. What's really cool with autonomy is that the form factor of a machine no longer needs to be the same, right? You're not supporting a person inside your cab. So, we've seen this plethora of machine factors from all different sizes. You have small machines that can go under your canopy of corn leaves and just either they can monitor and track the corn, they could weed or they can even disperse seeds in preparation for when you're harvesting and allow you to have a second crop there.

We see huge machines that can now weed autonomously for beds of, you could say, lettuce or spinach, either using mechanical arms or lasers. You can see some medium-sized machines, some small tractors in a sense, that instead of having the seed in the middle, it's basically all empty in the middle because you don't need a person. And you can then customize that machine with different implements in the middle, whether you want to plow one day, you want to fertilize the next, you want to harvest the third. It can do almost anything that you want it. So, I think that's really cool.

And also, we have to remind ourselves, it's not just outside and in our plots that this autonomy is occurring, it's also inside in our greenhouses, in our livestock operations. And there's just a plethora of machines covering almost every single task you could imagine coming up to the market, either now or very soon in the future.

Host: Yeah. Yeah. It's really cool. And I'm guessing in some respects, it's going to make some things on farms safer, but also maybe some other safety concerns. And maybe you can talk about those. What haven't we thought of yet in terms of these autonomous machines?

Dr. Salah Issa: So, I think we're starting with the assumption that it will make things safer from the perspective that, "Hey, you're moving the person outside of the hazard areas." But the truth be told is that it's probably a much more complicated story, and that's really worth of investigation. A lot of these machines are operating in fields. That human's probably doing something else there nearby or, you know, they're not anticipating that their children might be there, or you have bystanders that are just watching or coming out from the outside and interacting with your field in any certain way. So, there's a lot of potential hazards that we're just not thinking of at the moment that these machines when there ends up a case where it's like, "Oh wait, why didn't we think of this before?"

Host: Yeah. It's interesting, right? I did another podcast for Carle Health. And we talked about, you know, the natural sort of issues related to big heavy machines and tractors like rollovers and things. So, it's making me think, "Okay. Well, if there's not somebody in the cab, then they won't suffer the effects of a rollover." But as you say, there could be other folks around doing other work. And if there is a rollover, you can see how there would still be safety concerns, right?

Dr. Salah Issa: For sure. And then also, you have to remember that a lot of times incidents are not occurring when you're operating in the field that's generally flat, straight, pretty straightforward. A lot of times, incidents are occurring when you're maintaining that equipment, when you're transporting that equipment. And that's something that we want to, you know, highlight to make sure that these machines are actually improving the safety.

Host: Right. Absolutely. Yeah, it sounds like it. It sounds like an exciting time on farms with the sort of improvement in safety, of course, and a better understanding of how to, you know, protect youth working on farms and everybody else, but then also these autonomous machines. It sounds really cool. I'll just give you a chance here. Final thoughts and takeaways at the end. When we think about technology and how it's changed and where it's going, what do you want folks to know?

Dr. Salah Issa: Well, I think these future advancements are really cool. We have to remember their autonomy might be necessarily a new set of technology. But overall, we're continuing on the same trend of mechanization from the 1900s to now. As we have moved towards autonomy and automation, a lot of different smaller tasks have been automated, whether it's self-steering, whether it's variable rates, input rates, and so on. And this is going along the same path. And my hope, what I'm excited for, is that it will continue to make farms safer, but we have to just remain on top of it, remain vigilant that we are actually making farms safer.

Host: Yeah, I think that's the perfect word is just that vigilance, right? And just understanding that with advancements with changes in technology, there's a whole new set of things to think about and worry about. And so in some respects may be safer, but it may raise other safety concerns. So, good to have experts like yourself and others working on this, rolling up their sleeves, just trying to make sure that everyone is educated and vigilant. So, thanks so much.

Dr. Salah Issa: Thank you. I appreciate it.

Host: That's Dr. Salah Issa, Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Industrial Safety and Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. And remember, you can count on Carle. Learn more about the Carle Center for Rural Health and Farm Safety by visiting carle.org/farmsafety, that's C-A-R-L-E.org/farmsafety, for resources, information, tips, and much more.

If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the entire podcast library for additional topics of interest. I'm Scott Webb. Thanks for listening, and join us next time on Let's Talk with Carle Health.