Agriculture & Health

How are agriculture and health (particularly public health) related?
Closely.

But in what ways, specifically, are they related?
To name a few:
1. Agriculture produces food. Thus, agriculture is key to adequate and nutritious diets.

2. Agriculture is a livelihood; whether subsistence farming or growing cash crops (for most, a combination of both), agriculture sustains individuals, families and communities. Agricultural activities are economic activities, and are tied to socioeconomic status.

3. Agricultural practices can have profound impacts on air, soil and water quality.

4. Farmers’ health is strongly impacted by agricultural methods, both in labor practices and use of toxic chemicals/other environmental health hazards.

5. Agricultural practices (e.g. use of petroleum-based fertilizers and release of methane from animal excrement) have been leading contributors to climate change.

6. Agricultural practices affect the spread of disease, particularly food- and water-borne ones (e.g. salmonella and malaria). Zoonotic diseases, like avian influenza, are increasingly an international concern.

Furthermore, the relationship between health and agriculture is cyclic: productive agricultural practices require a healthy workforce of farmers, and that health depends on productive and healthy agricultural practices.

Further reading
– The Agriculture and Public Health Gateway (A project of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, and fabulous resource)
-US EPA “Health and Safety Topics” http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/health.html
-International Food Policy Research Institute. “Reshaping Agriculture for Nutrition and Health” (2012). Ed. Fan S and Pandya-Lorch R. Full-text PDF available here.