Health and safety education for farmers has the potential to increase the level of health, safety literacy, and thereby improve farmers’ health and quality of life. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the published literature documenting different educational interventions for agricultural workers that have the improvement of health and/or safety literacy as an outcome. A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Scopus and PsycINFO databases for articles focusing on educational interventions for farmers’ health and safety. From the 3357 initial hits, 36 unduplicated records met the inclusion criteria. The articles included in the review used educational interventions for farmers with the purpose of preventing farm-induced diseases and injuries, increasing the health and well-being of farmers, and promoting good manufacturing practices. The educational approaches considered varied from lectures, videos, newsletters, games, and community fairs, to involving the community in designing the intervention and training farmers to deliver the intervention to the community. Interventions that used evidence-based theories, which took into account cultural aspects and individual factors, used biomarkers as a behavior change measurement, and involved the community in the development of the intervention had the best results in terms of behavior change. The strategies of educational interventions identified in this review that produced good results have the potential to inform future researchers and policy makers in the design and implementation of public health interventions, programs and policies to improve the health of farmers and their families.

Managing a horse stable involves risks, which can have serious consequences for the stable, employees, clients, visitors and horses. Existing industrial or farm production risk management tools are not directly applicable to horse stables and they need to be adapted for use by managers of different types of stables. As a part of the InnoEquine project, an innovative web tool, InnoHorse, was developed to support horse stable managers in business, safety, pasture and manure management. A literature review, empirical horse stable case studies, expert panel workshops and stakeholder interviews were carried out to support the design. The InnoHorse web tool includes a safety section containing a horse stable safety map, stable safety checklists, and examples of good practices in stable safety, horse handling and rescue planning. This new horse stable safety management tool can also help in organizing work processes in horse stables in general.

This article presents a case study of public research institute innovation process for the circular bioeconomy in Finland. If an invention is to become an innovation, it requires actor alignment and cooperation from research to product development all the way to the end user. Despite the high uncertainty, the decision makers along the value chain need to identify possible directions and promising options, in addition to managing various risks. Support for these decisions is crucial to enable sustainable innovations. Furthermore, the role of public research institutions in providing “seeds” for innovations has been researched less extensively than the role of private companies or universities. This paper develops and tests a new circular bioeconomy product questionnaire to assist researchers. The questionnaire was designed for Natural Resources Institute Finland, combining risk management, new product development, and innovation process perspectives. The authors interviewed researchers and developed the framework further based on the interview analysis and tested it in a workshop. For the end product to succeed, it is necessary to understand the requirements of the entire value chain, especially the needs of end users. The research (and innovation) process should already involve stakeholders in the early stages to better meet their expectations.

This study is to develop techniques for business engineering on farms. Changes outside the farms are reflected in the agricultural sector placing new demands for the farm managers career paths and expertise. To have success in farm business a young farmer needs to find strategies adapting these changes to the operational tasks of the farm. In adaptation, it is important to see the possibilities of development during the farm’s life cycle. Agricultural entrepreneur usually faces the farm activities as a holistic system. The sustainability of the farm business depends on the conditions of the production processes and the agricultural entrepreneur’s ability to operate at different stages of his or her career path.In agriculture change is regulated by its own legislation, market regulation, customer requirements, traditions, and work culture, which must be taken into account in maintaining the vitality of the farm system. In Finland, the AgriHubi network offers a new channel for agriculture industry stakeholders to provide tools for the development of agricultural entrepreneurs’ management skills and career growth path. One of the results of this project is the identification of farm entrepreneurs’ development areas with the help of the farm task map tool. The task mapping method is based on mapping the important elements of the company.

This study examined agricultural machine accidents in Finland. In Finland, the relative share of the number of machine accidents of all accidents in agriculture has grown. In addition, agricultural machinery causes more than half of farmers' deaths at work. Most of the machine accidents occur when using field machinery. The two main objectives of the study were 1) to reduce farmers' machine accidents and their costs by publishing machine safety information cards in a magazine for farmers, and 2) to evaluate the impact of this safety information on the occurrence of machine accidents by following up accident statistics. In 2017, ten information cards on agricultural machinery safety were published in the Koneviesti farm machinery magazine. The topics of the information cards were the most dangerous farm machinery and how to avoid accidents with these: tractors, seeding and tilling machines, automatic functions in field machinery, trailers, ATVs, combines, front loaders, machinery used in livestock production, personal protective equipment, and machine maintenance work. One year after the intervention, the statistics of accidents caused by these machines were analysed, from ten years before to one year after the intervention. A statistically significant decrease in accident development after the intervention was observed among Koneviesti's farmer subscribers. By contrast, no corresponding decrease in accident development was observed among other farmers who were not subscribers to the Koneviesti magazine. The study produced practical training material on agricultural machinery safety.