Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Program PPOP
What are our priorities?
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Program (AgFF) works with partners in industry, labor, trade associations, professional organizations, and academia. The program currently focuses on these areas:
- Conducting research to understand and decrease exposure to hazards that cause disease and injury in AgFF industries.
- Developing and evaluating control measures and technologies to protect workers.
- Producing educational, outreach, and prevention programs to guide workers and employers.
What do we do?
- Provide leadership and coordination for intra- and extramural research and outreach efforts nationwide, including 11 Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health, Commercial Fishing Safety Research and Training Grants, and other NIOSH-funded projects.
- Provide evidence-based recommendations to prevent injuries and illnesses.
- Improve understanding through translation of science and language, engaging formats, and responsiveness to the changing needs of the workforce.
- Advance research-to-practice (r2p) through active partnerships with stakeholders.
- Sponsor regional, national, and international conferences and sessions to promote research findings and identify research needs.
- Coordinate a multi-state pesticide poisoning case-based surveillance system through the Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risk (SENSOR) Pesticide Program.
What have we accomplished?
- Developed and published a video series on U.S. Agricultural Safety and Health Centers’ YouTube channel:
- English and Spanish COVID-19 recommendations for the industry
- “Creating Safety and Health Demos for Ag Safety Education”
- Distributed 1,087 lifejackets at reduced cost as a part of the Lifejackets for Lobstermen research project.
- Developed a mobile application to collect safety and injury data fromexternal icon farm visits.
- Promoted AgInjuryNewsexternal icon, a national news and surveillance database, through peer-reviewed publications.
- Disseminated the HEAT training programexternal icon for employers and Promotores de Salud (community health workers).
- Examined the role of wind in human illness due to pesticide drift.external icon
- Investigated alpha-gal syndromeexternal icon, an emerging immune disease.
- Hosted a webinar on Parkinson’s Disease and Aging in Agricultureexternal icon.
- Hosted a virtual workshop series on Child Agricultural Safety and Healthexternal icon.
- Created a mental health toolkitpdf iconexternal icon to promote stress management strategies and resources.
What’s next?
- Create AgFF-focused materials on COVID-19 vaccine confidence and workplace vaccination.
- Provide technical assistance to local, state, and regional policy makers on heat and wildfire smoke exposure.
- Organize a “Safety in Robotics” Workshop.
- Publish a NIOSH science blog and present on fatigue and sleep deprivation in AgFF.
- Examine wearable technology to capture health data among logging workers.
- Provide expert witness testimony for the National Transportation Safety Board’s Most Wanted Listexternal icon Roundtable to improve commercial fishing safety.

Mention of any company or product does not constitute endorsement by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
At-A-Glance
The Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Program provides scientific leader-ship to prevent work-related injuries and illnesses among agricultural, forestry, and fishing workers. This snapshot shows recent accomplishments and upcoming work.
NIOSH AgFF Program and Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health

COVID-19 products created in 2020-2021 by the Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health

Agricultural-Related Crashes in the Southwest Agriculture Region 2010-2018

To learn more, visit
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/agforfish/
January 2022
Page last reviewed: January 3, 2022
Content source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health