Rural Banter

Author: ERICA GOODMAN

Senior year, spring semester. CSO keeps sending out emails to apply for this job, send in a resume for that job. But I am no closer to having a plan for next year than I am to knowing what I'll have for dinner next Tuesday. Like my fellow classmates, I examine the offerings with an eye on location, benefits (and earnings), good experience and, quite frankly, something that just sounds interesting.

However, what does not appear in the job descriptions as I navigate the MOJO maze is whether or not the profession is safe. Careers in finance or education, non-profit administration or law are not generally considered hazardous to one's health. Even work in the highest-security government positions and CIA recruitment do not offer a disclaimer. In fact, the individuals most likely to be killed on the job aren't the ones donning bulletproof vests to capture criminals or partaking in secret agent missions a la Alias. No, the workers most likely to die while at work are the ones whose labor helps to provide us with our daily needs.

Loggers, pilots and fishers fill the top three spots for the most hazardous professions. Ranking number six in the most dangerous jobs according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) are farm occupations. The risks taken by men and women throughout America as they raise animals and plants and cultivate and harvest crops are largely left unrecognized as we sit down to enjoy our three meals a day.

Farming is a dangerous job. The tractors and machinery used by farmers and ranchers, for one, can prove very unsafe. Forty percent of occupational fatalities for farmers in 2004 were the result of non-highway vehicle accidents, cites the BLS. Computers may be the source of ailments such as carpel tunnel syndrome in the office, but the risks are a bit greater on the farm. From unguarded moving parts to their rollover potential, farm machines have largely contributed to the hazards of rural life.

Very few, if any, Middlebury College graduates have agriculture on their mind as they pursue their future ventures in the workplace. A quick MOJO search for farming offers up financial analyst positions for State Farm Insurance or a Foot Locker management position in West Farm, Conn., but little in the way of actual farm work. Farms can be wonderful places, with fresh air and plenty of open space, but generally a career in agriculture lacks the appeal of job promotions and six-figure salaries. And even the farmers are not granted the heroic status as individuals who selflessly lay their lives on the line each day so that the rest of us may enjoy our own existence a bit more safely and simply.