As National Farm Safety And Health Week ends, the topic should still be on the minds of people during harvest season. 

Iowa State Agricultural and Biosystems Engineer Steven Freeman says that harvest season is the most dangerous time for many farmers. Freeman explains that many serious injuries or fatalities occur in agriculture because of large livestock and equipment and also stress. 

“During harvest there’s lots of pressure to get the crop in under ideal conditions or as ideal as possible. Their profit margin is often based on their ability to get that crop out of the field. So it’s a high stress time for many farmers. So they are going to be potentially working longer hours, getting less sleep, maybe not eating as well. All of those things add up to having moments where a little mistake is more likely to occur.”

Freeman encourages farmers to check their equipment because the outside climate can cause malfunctions and then can cause injuries. National Farm Safety and Health Week was from September 18 through 24th.