An Act of the Iowa State Legislature

Iowa' Center for Agricultural Safety and Health was created in 1990 by the Iowa State Legislature [Code of IA 262.78]

Partners

I-CASH is a state-wide organization in principle partnership with The University of Iowa, Iowa State University, Iowa Department of Public Health, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and a diverse group of private and public agricultural health and safety organizations.

The organizational hub is the Institute for Rural and Environmental Health located in The University of Iowa’s College of Public Health.  I-CASH is one of only a few state legislated collaborative agricultural health and safety organizations in the United States.

Activities

Among its many accomplishments I-CASH has:

• Founded the AgriSafe Network, a group of 20 hospitals, health clinics, and county health departments that provide community-based, preventive occupational health services for the farm community.
• Created the Certified Safe Farm Program, which has shown to reduce disease and save 45% in medical care costs.
• Trained and certified over 600 nurses, physicians and other health care providers in agricultural medicine.
• Expanded the agricultural medicine course to six states outside of Iowa, reaching 417 participants from 34 U.S. States, DC, Puerto Rico and eight other countries.
• Developed MS and PhD graduate training programs and a one-year certificate program in Agricultural Health and Safety.
• Promoted the development of Farm Safety For Just Kids, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing injuries and fatalities of children and youth in farm environments
• Promoted the development of AgriWellness, a non-profit dedicated to promoting accessible behavioral health services to the rural/agricultural community.
• Developed the first Farm Safety Day Camp for kids program in Iowa.
• Awarded over $100,000 in grants in 57 Iowa communities for prevention of farm youth injuries and $187,000 in grant money for the AgriSafe Network.  
• Played a role in significantly reducing agricultural deaths and injuries in Iowa—by 44% and 32% respectively—since 1990.
• Providing health and safety education to small, mid-sized, and large scale agricultural producers.
• Collaborating with Iowa Department of Transportation to improve rural roadway safety.

Funding

Funding in 1990 was $250,000 in a line item for I-CASH.  The current year budget is $245,549 as part of The University of Iowa general funds through the College of Public Health.

Support the Fundraising Initiative: Cultivating Agricultural Health & Safety in the 21st Century