Cutting-edge research offers solutions to monitor risks, prevent accidents and improve health outcomes. 

Agriculture remains one of the most hazardous professions, but advances in technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), are paving the way for a safer industry by identifying risks and preventing accidents before they occur.

Salah Issa, an assistant professor and Extension specialist with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, highlighted how innovations such as robotic weeders, autonomous sprayers and wearable devices are transforming agricultural safety on a recent FarmDoc webinar. These technologies enhance hazard awareness and make farm work less dangerous, Issa said. 

Engineering advancements have already reduced injury and fatality rates, and new AI-driven solutions are set to further safeguard farmwork. 

“In the early 1990s, (the...