Paul Jones and William FieldPurdue University

Farm Safety Issues in Old Order Anabaptist Communities:

Unique Aspects and Innovative Intervention Strategies

The Anabaptist/Agriculture Connection

• A primary means of economic survival• A primary means of cultural survival

The Information Gap• Though the Old Order Anabaptists

have a distinctly agrarian culture, centralized statistics regarding agricultural safety have been sparse in regard to this population.

Potential Reasons for Sparse Information

• Desire to remain separate from the world• Resistance to higher education and

impractical information• Unwillingness to participate in many

government programs• Reporting procedures often do not

distinguish “religious preference”

The Old Order Anabaptists as a Subculture

• Religious• Historical• Geographical• Social• Economic

– Kreps, et.al.

Impact of Religious Beliefs on Agricultural Behavior

• Largely ignored or dismissed as irrelevant by researchers

• The few studies done indicate a link• Possible relationship between Old

Order beliefs/behaviors and those of the larger farm population

Basic Anabaptist Beliefs

• Knowing basic spiritual and cultural principles is important for understanding and working with the population

Anabaptist Beginnings

Early 1500s: movement began in Switzerland

Early 1700s: came to America to escape persecution in Europe

Basic Beliefs

• Literal obedience to the teachings of Christ and the Scriptures

• Adult “believers” baptism (Anabaptist means “re-baptizer”)

• The ban (shunning)

Basic Beliefs (cont.)

• Social separation from the world• Rejection of violence• Refusal to swear oaths• Church as covenant community

Gelassenheit

• Submission/obedience• Yielding to a higher authority• Resignation to God’s will• Humility

Ordnung (Ott-ning)

• Unwritten rules of conduct• Discipline• Ordering of one’s life

What Does it Mean to be

Old Order?• Selective Use of Technology• Distinctive Dress• Gemeinde or Redemptive Society• Strict Adherence to Basic Beliefs

Churches that hold Similar Beliefs

• Old Order Amish• Old Order Mennonites• Hutterite• Beachy Amish• New Amish• German Baptist

Growth

• 1890 - 22 Old Order congregations and 2,038 baptized adults

• 1992 - 898 districts and 145,000 population

• Current estimates - up to 250,000

Distribution of Amish Communities -1991

Socio-religious Characteristics Relevant

to Understanding Farm Safety Issues

Selective Use of Technology

• Modern conveniences used with reticence (cultural preservation)

• Not anti-technology; instead, “negotiated cultural compromises” (Kraybill)

• Heavy reliance on and contact with animals

• 21.8% of Amish couples have 10 or more children with the average of 7 children per family

• Doubling of population every 20-22 years

Amish Family Size

Other Unique PopulationCharacteristics of Amish

• Half the proportion of people over 65 in comparison to the rest of the rural population

• Twice the proportion of youth under 20 in comparison to the rest of the rural population

Attitudes Toward Child Labor

• Economic: helps family/community• Social: learning value of work• Spiritual: stewardship of creation

Beliefs About Death

• God’s sovereignty• “Thy will be done”

– gelassenheit

• The best is yet to come

Summary of Farm-related Fatalities within Old-Order Anabaptist Communities

7

1 24 1133

14

2

Number of Fatalities from Reporting States

•No buggy fatalities•Performance of farm work or in farm environment

21

0123456789

10

Age in Years

Tota

l # o

f Dea

ths

63% = 15 Years or Younger

Fatalities: Age

MALE

FEMALE

UNKNOWN

80%

18 % 2 %

Fatalities: Gender

05

10152025303540 Run Over

Direct AnimalCrushedFallsEntanglementDrownStruckSuffocationFire/ExplosionHeat StrokeFirearmsTractor RolloverOther

Fatalities: Source of Injury

NON-ANIMAL

DIRECT ANIMAL

INDIRECTANIMAL

17%17%

66%

Fatalities: Animal Behavior

0

5

10

15

20

25JA

NFE

BM

AR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

Fatalities: Month

0

5

10

15

20S

UN

MO

N

TUE

WE

D

THU

FRI

SA

T

Fatalities: Day of Week

Developing Effective Intervention Strategies

Factors in Working with Old Order Anabaptists

• “Primary, face to face social ties” (Kraybill)• Knowledge of Ordnung• Two kingdom worldview

– Separation from the kingdom of the world– Separation of church and state

Establish Northern Indiana Family Safety Committee

• Representatives of Amish Community

• Cooperative Extension Educators• Purdue ASH Program• Local law enforcement• Local EMS/fire-rescue

• Agricultural safety• Fire safety• Foods and canning safety• Electrical power safety• Substance abuse information

Conducting Family Safety Days in Church Districts

Implement Buggy Safety Initiative

•SMV Emblems•Reflective Tape•Safety Brochure for Tourists

Conferences for Professionals working with Anabaptist Communities

• 1998: Shipshewana, Indiana• 2001: Holmes County, Ohio

Additional Interventions

• “Amos and Sadie’s Farm: A Pathway to Safety”

• Indiana State Police initiatives