Michigan is second only to California in terms of diversity of crop production.  Michigan produces over 300 different agricultural commodities over its 45,000 farms. The state’s food and agriculture industry contributes more than $125 billion annually to the state's economy and supports over 800,000 jobs. Agriculture is one of the most important but also most dangerous industries.

• Since 2014, more than 8,800 Michigan workers have suffered an injury or illness in the agriculture field.
• Over the past 10 years, the fatality rate for agricultural workers was 12 times higher than the fatality rate for all workers in private industry; agricultural workers had a fatality rate of 39.87 deaths per 100,000, while the fatality rate for all workers was 3.35.
• Young workers who live and work on farms are also exposed to potentially dangerous farm-related hazards. Farm operators who hire youth to work on their farm should be aware of all applicable child labor laws.
• Approximately one half of farmworkers are Hispanic. MIOSHA requires employers to conduct all required training of workers in a language and vocabulary workers can understand.

Agricultural operations are covered by several MIOSHA Safety and Health standards. You can view all of the applicable MIOSHA standards, preambles to final rules, directives and standard interpretations for agricultural operations, as well as other MIOSHA standards applicable to Agriculture by navigating to our Agricultural Operations Standards page.

Physicians, hospitals, clinics, and employers are required by law to report known or suspected cases of occupational disease, in all industries, to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO). For more information on occupational and environmental reporting, navigate to MSU’s college of Human Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine page.

Note: For all Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data in this Safety and Health Topics Page, "agricultural worker" refers to any worker in the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting (GP2AFH) industry. These numbers are the best available representation of workers in the agricultural industry.