In Chapter 10 of the Routledge Handbook of Ecocultural Identity, Bendixsen, Durbin, and Hanschu strategically explore a case of a rancher on a multigenerational Texas cattle ranch as he and his family consider installing commercial wind turbines. The case study exhibits ways in which considerations of identity should examine ways that identity maintenance occurs during this time of universal but unevenly distributed unmooring of cultural and ecological coordinates from previously relatively stable Holocene conditions. The ranch serves as an example of ecocultural identity maintenance through what the rancher and his family consider ‘progressive ranching’ strategies, where maintenance results from both innovative and conservative relationships with technology and ethical commitments to a stewardship of horses, cattle, grassland, and kin. Central to ‘progressive ranching’ as protective of an ecocultural identity is a particular way of relating domains of techne, including technologies and techniques, and ethical commitments to stewardship within an oikos, composed of ecological and economic management of the ranch. The authors argue that both new technologies and traditional techniques form a ‘temporal cocoon’ that seemingly insulates the ranch from the destabilizing effects of the Anthropocene.

This pilot study aimed to: 1) quantify the usage of "accident" and related terms in media articles describing agricultural injuries and fatalities involving children; and 2) assess journalists' reactions to a suggested terminology shift from "accident" to "incident" in recent U.S. news media reports about youth agricultural injuries. United States (U.S.) news reports covering agricultural injury events were obtained from the AgInjuryNews.org dataset. Quantitative text analysis was performed to identify news articles that mentioned "accident" or related terms (e.g., "accidental," "accidentally") in their title or narrative. Chi-square tests, post-hoc procedures, and univariate logistic regression were used to determine whether and to what extent "accident" and related terms were used to describe youth agricultural injuries. To assess journalists' reactions to using "incident" instead of "accident" when describing youth agricultural injuries, a one-question survey was emailed to authors of news reports. Qualifying articles in the AgInjuryNews.org database were from June 1, 2022, to February 28, 2023, describing an agricultural injury involving victims under the age of 18 and featuring "accident" or its variations. Responses were coded based on sentiment. A total of 3,675 U.S. media reports were included in the quantitative text analysis for aim 1. "Accident" or related terms were used in 66% of the articles about youth agricultural injuries, compared to only 53% for reports about adult agricultural injuries. Agricultural injury events involving youth were more likely to be described using "Accident" or derived terms in U.S. news media than incidents involving adults (odds ratio: 1.73). For the second aim, 31 articles met the inclusion criteria for the journalists' survey. The survey response rate was 39% (n = 12). Of the 12 journalists who responded, 1 disagreed with the proposed terminology shift, 5 were neutral, and 6 were in agreement. The findings from the quantitative text analysis and survey results support the need for additional research and provide evidence to support efforts to create lasting change in the way youth agricultural injury and fatality events are reported by U.S. news media.

Anthropologists and public health professionals have long recognized the value of people‐centered, community‐based interventions. Securing community buy‐in is an essential precursor to any successful community‐based intervention. We describe the adaptation of pile sort methods to understand existing community relations, establish community buy‐in, and design and implement a community‐based intervention in agricultural health and safety. Participants’ responses led to the development of Rural Firefighters Delivering Agriculture, Safety and Health (RF‐DASH), a widely supported community‐based form of intervention originated in Wisconsin and now disseminated across the United States and Canada. We conclude that the adapted pile sort methods effectively elicited support for a community health program in a dispersed, rural population.

In the U.S., extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related fatalities. Farmers, ranchers and other outdoor workers who are exposed to the elements and engaged in strenuous physical activity are disproportionately impacted. This manuscript summarizes the number and severity of heat-related illnesses and injuries collected through the AgInjuryNews.org system, highlights their characteristics, provides recommendations for farmworkers and employers, and calls for future research. Heat-related illness cases from 2016–2024 were analyzed. Fourteen agricultural heat-related incidents covered by U.S. media were identified. Most incidents took place in June and July. A content analysis was conducted to identify news articles that included mention of prevention strategies, laws and regulations related to working conditions, or OSHA. Over half of the cases were from southern states. Eleven of the incidents involved male farmworkers, one involved a male farmer, and two involved first responders (gender unspecified). All of the farmer/farmworker incidents were single-victim fatalities. Seven articles mentioned prevention strategies, ten mentioned laws or regulations, and nine mentioned OSHA, often cursory. These findings suggest that media reports provide a limited and selective image of agricultural heat-related injuries, with coverage emphasizing fatalities and investigation information more often than prevention.