Study to Examine Why Farm Children Are Healthier Than City Kids

Aug 15, 2013

Study to Examine Why Farm Children Are Healthier Than City Kids

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

A new study researched childhood exposures with farm environments, to find out why farm kids seem to be healthier compared to their city counterparts.

The American Farm Bureau said the study will examine environments, which promote immunologic safeguards that may limit the severity of certain child allergic diseases including asthma.

The study is to be conducted by the National Farm Medicine Centre in partnership with the Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. The study involves researching 200 babies in the Marshfield, Wisconsin area over the span of two years. Half of the babies will be born from farm families, while the other half from families living in rural towns but not on farms.

Results from a similar study last year, found that children who grow up on farms, which have regular exposure to elements such as dust, pollen and manure, have stronger immune systems as a result. The same study found farm kids are 30 to 50 percent less likely to develop allergies than children who live in the city.

The $5-million study is being funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.