Agriculture plays an important role in most of the world’s economies, none more so than in the United States. The federal government plays a very important role in the development and practices within the industry, through research, training, advice and the exchange of experiences.
The federal government also oversees many areas of agriculture and security through legislation and has a role that is both helpful and punitive. Knowing which agencies are involved and what they do is a crucial matter for any farmer or farm operator and can be a great source of information and help.
Anyone running a farm of any size needs to approach it as a serious business and understand the various frameworks involved, both structural and legal, that they need to be aware of and implement in the way they run the business.
Below are some of the major public and government agencies operating in the United States.
Some may extend to other countries, such as Canada, if there are also cross-border agreements related to your country. Other countries that are heavily dependent on agriculture also have their own agencies that are likely to be of a similar nature in terms of services or the legal framework under which they operate.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is the primary agency in the United States dealing with regulations related to health and safety.
Health and safety on a farm or in an agricultural context is often more complicated to detail and implement than in normal business, given the nature of both the environment and the people who work in it.
Farm and agricultural land is much more dependent on the seasons and weather than most other businesses and this creates real health and safety issues.
It is also true that most farms are family owned or have families living on site, meaning the business is a combination of home and work.
These are boundaries that need to be resolved within the family itself on a personal level, but also need to be resolved in a business sense for both the families and the employees who live or work on the land.
The United States Department of Labor has a specific focus on the agricultural industry as it relates to children and youth.
Children have historically worked a lot on farms, either as vacation jobs or as part of the lifestyle if they live there. While this is generally a safe and accepted practice, there are specific laws that relate to child labor that need to be understood and relate specifically to agriculture.
The United States Department of Agriculture is the primary agency in the US that oversees this massive and important industry. He is continually engaged with the farming community in a variety of ways, both to understand their needs on an ongoing basis and to provide help and support where possible.
The needs of the agricultural industry may change, depending on specific weather conditions or market forces. Temporary measures, either financial or regulatory, may need to be put in place to help the agriculture industry in a targeted and dedicated way.
This department primarily assists the agricultural industry through education, research, regulation of food production and safety, conservation, and world market development.
AgrAbility is a series of targeted programs sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture and National Easter Seals that provide help and support to farmers with disabilities.
This is considered a very important feature that provides a lot of educational, technical, and financial information, and is widely available in the United States, though not everywhere.
This allows farmers, whose business is quite isolated anyway, with any type of disability to access resources and aids that allow them to do the work in similar conditions to their competitors.
The other really important government agency is the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. This is a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has a very specific responsibility.
It is charged with conducting research and making recommendations to help prevent workplace injuries.
It should be viewed as a meaningful body of experience that uses your understanding of how injuries occur to help prevent them.
This is not simply a legislative process, it can provide understanding to any type of formal agricultural business on how to understand best practices in the industry and implement policies and protocols that help prevent any type of injury or serious harm to employees, in what is very challenging and fast moving work environment.