• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.47-56
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• 2019

More than half of the nonpoint sources of polluting water occur in cultivating farmlands in rural areas. Agricultural nonpoint sources are discharged from large areas of farmlands, making it difficult to collect or treat pollutants. Farmland source management is known to be the most effective, and preventive management by improving farming methods is the key to reduce nonpoint pollution. At present, more than 30% of the pollutants flowing into the rivers and lakes are nonpoint pollutants caused by agricultural activities. As a countermeasure, it is more preferable to develop and apply optimal farming management techniques for agricultural nonpoint pollution management basically than to apply existing water quality management techniques. Because of the characteristics of nonpoint source pollution, it is necessary to manage farmlands in rural areas, so the willingness and competence of the residents is most important. The purpose of this study is to analyze and understand the process of changing the cognition of residents through capacity education and survey for nonpoint pollution management in rural areas. This study conducted intensive resident competency education and examined the process of changing resident awareness through three surveys. As a result of this study, it was found that continuous education and activities for rural non-point pollution management are necessary for raising awareness of residents and managing non-point pollution effectively, showing possibility of change residents' perception.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.500-506
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• 2017

Kimchi cabbage is one of the four major vegetable crops in Korea. The total annual production of kimchi cabbage, the main material of kimchi, was 20,559 tons in 2015. Kimchi cabbage is one of the majer crops produced by farmers which accounts for about 80% of the total leaf vegetable production in Korea. As the consumption of environmental-friendly agricultural products increases, food safety is one of the major public health concerns. We analyzed the biological hazards of kimchi cabbage produced by two types of cultivation methos such as organic farming and conventional farming using various culture media and microscopy. A total of 432 samples were analysed for presence of sanitary indicator microorganisms (aerobic plate count, coliform count, yeast & mold) and food-borne pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus, environmental Listeria, Bacillus cereus). The population of sanitary indicating microorganisms and food borne pathogens was under 5 Log CFU/g in all tested samples. The results of total microorganism numbers of leaf surface showed a positive correlation to those of soil samples. Additionally, we examined chemical factors such as pesticide residues and heavy metals in soil samples. All tested samples did not shown contamination levels higher than the standard limit.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.485-490
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• 2020

Background: Meniscal tears are among the major risk factors for knee osteoarthritis progression. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between meniscal tears and work-related factors in the farming occupation. Methods: The participants included 486 farmers (238 men and 248 women), aged 40-69 years, who were among the 550 farmers registered in the Korea Farmer's Knee Cohort (KFKC). Data such as those on gender, age, body mass index (BMI), mechanical axis, cumulative heavy-lifting working time (CLWT), cumulative squatting working time (CSWT), and previous knee injury history were collected from the questionnaire, along with whole leg radiographic findings. Two radiologists assessed the magnetic resonance images of both knees to confirm the presence of meniscal tears. The factors related to meniscal tears were analyzed by multiple logistic regression. Results: A total of 54.5% of the farmers (48.7% of men and 60.1% of women) had meniscal tears. These tears were associated with gender, age, and BMI. We also identified an association between meniscal tears and CSWT, an especially important factor in farming [10,000-19,999 working hours, odds ratio = 2.16, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.14-4.07, ≥20,000 working hours, odds ratio = 2.35, 1.45-3.80]. However, mechanical axis, knee injury history, and CLWT were not significantly related to meniscal tears. Conclusion: This study's findings show that squatting for long periods, as an occupational factor, is related to meniscal tears.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.432-438
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• 2021

Background: We aimed to investigate the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and its associated agricultural work-related, biomechanical factors among this population. Methods: We analyzed initial survey data from the Safety for Agricultural Injury of Farmers cohort study involving adult farmers in Jeju Island. The prevalence of LBP was calculated with associated factors. Results: In total, 1,209 participants were included in the analysis. The overall prevalence of LBP was 23.7%. Significant associations for LBP were the type of farming activity, length of farming career, prior agricultural injury within 1 year, and stress levels. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed three biomechanical factors significantly related to LBP: repetitive use of particular body parts; the inappropriate posture of the lower back and neck. Conclusions: Some occupational, and biomechanical risk factors contribute to LBP. Therefore, postural education, injury prevention education, and psychological support will be needed to prevent LBP.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.159-165
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• 2019

BACKGROUND: The water footprint (WF) is an indicator of freshwater use that appears not only at direct water use of a consumer or producer, but also at the indirect water use. As an indicator of 'water use', the water footprint includes the green, blue, and grey WF, and differs from the classical measure of 'water withdrawal' because of green and grey WF. This study was conducted to assess and estimate the water footprint of the soybean and Chinese cabbage. METHODS AND RESULTS: APEX model with weather data, soil and water quality data from NAS (National Institute of Agricultural Sciences), and farming data from RDA (Rural Development Administration) was operated for analyzing the WF of the crops. As the result of comparing the yield estimated from APEX with the yield extracted from statistic data of each county, the coefficients of determination were 0.83 for soybean and 0.97 for Chinese cabbage and p-value was statistically significant. The WFs of the soybean and Chinese cabbage at production procedure were 1,985 L/Kg and 58 L/Kg, respectively. This difference may have originated from the cultivation duration. The WF ratios of soybean were 91.1% for green WF and 8.9% for grey WF, but the WF ratios of Chinese cabbage were 41.5% for green WF and 58.5% for grey WF. CONCLUSION: These results mean that the efficiency of water use for soybean is better than that for Chinese cabbage. The results could also be useful as an information to assess environmental impact of water use and agricultural farming on soybean and Chinese cabbage.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.206-216
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• 2019

Purpose: This study is to investigate the low back pain, social support, impediment in daily living activities and to identify factors affecting impediment in elderly farmer' daily living activities. Methods: The participants were 128 elderly farmers who had received nerve block. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from February to March, 2018. They were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, pearson's correlation coefficient, and linear multiple regression. Results: The score of low back pain was $6.27{\pm}1.69$ (10 points), that of social support $2.92{\pm}0.76$ (1~5 points), and that of impediment in activity of daily living $2.01{\pm}0.82$ (0~5 points). Factors affecting impediment in activity of daily living were found to include age (p=.017), daily hours of farm work (p<.001), fear for the nerve block (p<.001), low back pain (p<.001), and social support (p<.001); the explanatory power of these variables was 58.8%. Conclusion: This study has found the controllable factors affecting impediment in activity of daily living among the rural elderly engaging in farm work include low back pain, social support, and daily farming hours. Therefore, to reduce impediment in activity of daily living among them, it is necessary to develop nursing interventions that can improve impediment in activity of daily living through reduction of daily farming hours using local resources. It is also desirable to improve their health status by reducing low back pain, and develop and apply social supports with health education programs that fit the local resources and the needs of the rural elderly.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2019

Background: Management of an agricultural food product system following a nuclear accident is indispensable for reducing radiation exposure due to ingestion of contaminated food. The present study analyzes the effect of agricultural countermeasures on ingestion dose following a nuclear accident. Materials and Methods: Agricultural countermeasures suitable for domestic farming environments were selected by referring to the countermeasures applied after the Fukushima accident in Japan. The avertable ingestion doses that could be obtained by implementing the selected countermeasures were calculated using the Korean Agricultural Countermeasure Analysis Program (K-ACAP) to investigate the efficiency of each countermeasure. Results and Discussion: Of the selected countermeasures, the management of crops was effective when radionuclide deposition occurred during the growing season of plants. Treatment by soil additive and topsoil removal was effective when deposition occurred during the nongrowing season of plants. The disposal of milk was not effective owing to the small contribution of milk to the overall ingestion dose. Clean feeding of livestock was effective when deposition occurred during the growing season of fodder plants such as pasture and rice-straw. Finally, the effect of food restriction increased with the soil deposition density of radionuclide. The practical effect of countermeasures was very small when the avertable ingestion dose was absolutely low. Conclusion: The agricultural countermeasures selected to reduce the radionuclide ingestion dose after a nuclear accident must be made appropriate by considering the accident situation, such as the soil deposition density of the radionuclide and the deposition date in relation to farming cycles.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.138-146
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• 2022

Objective: The objective of the current study was to investigate the influences of conventional (CO) and deep litter (DE) systems on antimicrobial resistance in fecal Escherichia coli (E. coli). Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out to detect antimicrobial resistance to E. coli in swine fecal samples in CO and DE systems located in western and northeastern Thailand. Individual rectal swab samples were taken only from healthy pigs. A total of 215 individual and healthy pigs were randomly selected for isolation and antimicrobial susceptibility test of E. coli by the disc diffusion method. The test panel included amoxicillin (AMX), colistin, doxycycline (DOX), enrofloxacin, gentamicin (GEN), kanamycin, neomycin (NEO), and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT). Results: There were significant (p<0.05) lower resistance levels for GEN, NEO, and SXT in the DE farms compared to those in the CO farms. There was a lower number of antimicrobial resistance agents (p<0.001) in the DE farms compared to those in the CO farms. This result was consistent with those in western (p<0.01) and northeastern (p<0.01) Thailand. Overall, antibiograms of AMX-SXT and AMX-DOX-SXT were found in the CO (19.09% and 20.91%, respectively) and the DE (16.19% and 24.76%, respectively) farms. No antimicrobial resistance (5.71%) was found and AMX (13.33%) resistant pigs in the DE farms, whereas the pattern of AMX-GEN-SXT (6.36%) and AMX-DOX-GEN-SXT (11.82%) resistant pigs was found in the CO farms. Conclusion: The DE system for pig farming was superior to conventional pig farming by lowering the resistance level of fecal E. coli to GEN, NEO, and SXT, with decreasing the number of antimicrobial resistance agents and inducing a small proportion of pigs to be free from antimicrobial resistance.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.44.1-44.13
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• 2024

Importance: The emergence and rapid increase in the incidence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria in pig farms has become a serious concern and reduced the choice of effective antibiotics. Objective: This study analyzed the phylogenetics and diversity of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and molecularly identified the source of ARGs in antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli isolated from pig farms in Banten Province, Indonesia. Methods: Forty-four antibiotic-resistant E. coli isolates from fecal samples from 44 pig farms in Banten Province, Indonesia, were used as samples. The samples were categorized into 14 clusters. Sequencing was performed using the Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION platform, with barcoding before sequencing with Nanopore Rapid sequencing gDNA-barcoding (SQK-RBK110.96) according to manufacturing procedures. ARG detection was conducted using ResFinder, and the plasmid replicon was determined using PlasmidFinder. Results: Three phylogenetic leaves of E. coli were identified in the pig farming cluster in Banten Province. The E. coli isolates exhibited potential resistance to nine classes of antibiotics. Fifty-one ARGs were identified across all isolates, with each cluster carrying a minimum of 10 ARGs. The ant(3'')-Ia and qnrS1 genes were present in all isolates. ARGs in the E. coli pig farming cluster originated mainly from plasmids, accounting for an average of 89.4%. Conclusions and Relevance: The elevated potential for MDR events, coupled with the dominance of ARGs originating from plasmids, increases the risk of ARG spread among bacterial populations in animals, humans, and the environment.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.34
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• pp.10.1-10.11
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• 2022

Background: Repetitive hand use increases the risk of hand osteoarthritis (OA). This study aimed to investigate characteristics of and risk factors for hand OA in Korean women farmers. Methods: This cross-sectional study included women farmers resident in Jeollanam-do, Korea. The participants were interviewed, and radiographs were taken of both hands. Radiological hand OA was defined based on the Osteoarthritis Research Society International imaging criteria of joint space narrowing or the presence of osteophytes. The participants were divided into age groups of < 60 and ≥ 60 years. Obesity was defined as body mass index of > 25 kg/m². Annual working time was divided into < 2,000, 2,000-2,999, and ≥ 3,000 hours. Agricultural working type was divided into rice farming and field farming. Robust Poisson regression was used to identify factors associated with radiographic hand OA, with adjustment for age, obesity, annual working time, and agricultural classification. Results: A total of 310 participants with a mean age of 58.1 ± 7.6 years, were enrolled. The prevalence of radiologically confirmed OA was 49.0%, with an OA prevalence of 39.4% the interphalangeal joint in the thumb (IP1). The prevalence of OA was higher in the distal interphalangeal joint than in the proximal interphalangeal, metacarpophalangeal, and carpometacarpal joints. The prevalence of OA varied by age, annual working time, and agriculture type. Conclusions: Korean women farmers have a high prevalence of OA, particularly in the IP1 joints. OA is associated with age, working hours, and agriculture type.