2025 North American Agricultural Safety Summit:

 

A Resounding Success in Advancing Ag Worker Health & Safety  

The 2025 North American Agricultural Safety Summit brought together producers, researchers, industry leaders, insurers, educators, and safety professionals from across the country for three days of dialogue, learning, and partnership-building. Held in San Antonio, Texas, this year’s Summit delivered one of the most diverse and comprehensive programs to date—highlighting emerging issues, showcasing groundbreaking research, and strengthening national momentum toward safer agricultural workplaces.

A Strong Start: Welcome, Vision, and Leadership

The Summit opened with a high-energy welcome from ASHCA Board Chair Paul Riley, joined by Casper Bendixsen, PhD, and David Douphrate, PhD, who set the tone for a collaborative and solutions-oriented gathering. Their remarks emphasized cross-sector partnership and the growing need for unified strategies to address the evolving risks facing agricultural workers.

The opening keynote, Safety & Health in Agriculture—A CEO’s Perspective, featured Doug Rose, President and CEO of AgReserves, Inc. Rose provided a rare executive-level view of organizational safety culture, global operations, and the leadership strategies necessary to protect workers across diverse agricultural enterprises. His presentation was widely praised by attendees for its candor and forward-looking insight.

Spotlight on Emerging Issues and Youth Safety

Early sessions included compelling presentations on safeguarding youth in agriculture by Andrea Swenson, PhD, and a panel on Emerging Health Issues Impacting Ag Workers featuring experts from academia, insurance, and industry. Topics ranged from workforce health surveillance to sustainability pressures and worker well-being—giving attendees a multidimensional understanding of the complex factors influencing agricultural health and safety today.

Research–Industry Partnerships Take Center Stage

A signature feature of the Summit was the Research & Industry Partnership Panel, which brought together leaders from the pork, poultry, ranching, and crop production sectors. Panelists explored the real-world challenges of implementing evidence-based safety practices and underscored the critical role of trust and collaboration between researchers and producers.

Technology, Robotics, and Modern Risks

The Summit continued with a popular session on Ag Technologies, Automation, Robotics, and Risk, led by Salah Issa, Roger Aby, and Trevor Calewart, highlighting the safety implications of rapidly advancing agricultural technologies. From autonomous equipment to VR-based training tools, presenters helped attendees consider both the opportunities and challenges of integrating innovation into traditional farming environments.

Other standout sessions included:

  • Confined Spaces Hazards & Risks, with Tim Zender and Aaron Yoder, PhD
  • Animal Agriculture Safety & Health, led by David Douphrate, PhD and Matt Spencer
  • Incident Investigations in Agriculture, presented by Kelly George
  • Challenges of Rural or Remote Work, featuring insights from Kipp Wills and Valentina Schilling

Each session provided practical tools, case studies, and actionable recommendations for reducing incidents and improving worker safety outcomes.

Showcasing Excellence: Awards & Lightning Talks

During the Gala Luncheon, ASHCA honored outstanding leaders in agricultural safety, including Linda Fetzer, Diane Rohlman, PhD, and Aaron Yoder, PhD, for their sustained contributions to research, outreach, and workforce safety initiatives. Their work reflects the innovation and dedication driving national progress in agricultural safety and health.

The Research Lightning Talks featured rapid-fire presentations from emerging scholars and practitioners, covering topics such as:

  • injury surveillance using machine learning
  • youth injury prevention
  • health literacy in cattle feedyard workers
  • heat-related illness trends
  • autonomous equipment safety
  • motivations and barriers to feedyard trainings

This session was especially well-received as it highlighted the next generation of agricultural safety research and interdisciplinary approaches.

 

Learning from the Field: Producer Success Stories
A highlight of Day 2 was a panel on Producer Success Stories & Lessons Learned featuring Sean Vallely, Jill Oatman, Flint Belk, and Ashley Nadeau. Panelists shared real-world experiences implementing safety interventions, overcoming barriers, and driving cultural change at the farm and organizational levels. Their insights resonated strongly with attendees seeking pragmatic methods for improving on-farm safety. 

A Meaningful Close: Stories of Resilience and Commitment
One of the most memorable closing sessions was delivered by Dale Dobson, who shared his powerful personal narrative, Life, Death & Readily: Growing Up a Farm Boy—The Power of a Handshake. Dobson’s decades of service in farm rescue, safety training, and suicide prevention brought an emotional and inspiring conclusion to the Summit.

Networking, Exhibits, and Partnership Building
Across all three days, attendees took full advantage of exhibit tables, poster sessions, informal receptions, and structured networking opportunities. Exhibitors—including the National Farm Medicine Center, Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety, Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, and Valmont—shared new tools, training resources, and technologies supporting safer agricultural operations. 

Evaluation data echoed a strong consensus: the Summit was highly effective in increasing knowledge, fostering partnerships, and identifying priority areas for education, training, and research. 

A Shared Commitment to Safer Agriculture
From emerging technologies to rural mental health, from youth safety to autonomous equipment, the 2025 North American Agricultural Safety Summit reinforced the collective mission to protect agricultural workers, families, and communities.

The Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America (ASHCA) extends its sincere thanks to all speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, planning committee members, and attendees who made this year’s Summit an overwhelming success. Together, we continue to build a safer, stronger future for agriculture.

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Jill Oatman

Jill is a risk control consultant for Gallagher National Risk Control. She specializes in providing risk management services to clients in the area of safety. Jill is responsible for providing risk management support while assisting clients with controlling and minimizing the total cost of risk. Her expertise is in livestock operations, and she has extensive experience in the agricultural industry. Jill has a broad spectrum of knowledge of other industries that help serve her clients throughout the Midwest.”

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Sean Vallely

Sean Vallely is the Manager of Loss Control for the Workers’ Comp program. His primary role and responsibility is providing comprehensive loss prevention services for Agri-Services Agency. Sean oversees three loss control consultants, providing risk assessments, field evaluations, safety training, and support for the program.

Sean is experienced in all lines of property & casualty insurance, with over 25 years in the business. Prior to joining ASA in 2017, Sean was the manager of loss control at Farm Family Casualty Insurance Company. Prior to the move to Ag in 2012, Sean was a senior risk engineer for Zurich and Travelers, serving as a construction specialist for large accounts.

Sean has a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering from Cornell University, his AFIS designation, and is also an authorized OSHA outreach trainer.

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Matt Spencer

Matt Spencer, CSP, SHRM-CP, REM, currently holds the role of vice president of HR and Safety Programs for the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association. Since gaining his position in 2017, he has been responsible for the strategic management of certain USPOULTRY technical services provided to or on behalf of Association members. Such professional services include, but are not limited to, worker safety, human resources, fleet safety, and employment law programs. Mr. Spencer provides technical and logistical support to the Joint Poultry Industry Safety & Health, Human Resources, and Duck Councils. He represents USPOULTRY on various outside committees or boards, such as the NFPA 150 Animal Housing and 660 Agricultural Dust technical committees, ANSI Z490.1 and ANSI Z16 advisory committees, and the NIOSH National Occupational Research Agenda Councils for Manufacturing and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing. Mr. Spencer assists in developing program areas related to educational programs for the International Processing and Protin Expo (IPPE) and provides other IPPE support. He prepares comments and articles for risk management positions of the association.

Derick Engelbart

Derick Engelbart is the Director of Health and Safety with CSS Farms. CSS Farms is a nationwide potato farming company dedicated to growing high-quality potatoes while prioritizing sustainability and innovation. The company’s values focus on people, potatoes, and possibilities—emphasizing stewardship, solutions, and teamwork to lead the way in modern agriculture. 

Derick has a work history dedicated to 13 years of fostering a safe and healthy work environment for associate team members. He has worked across a variety of industries, including manufacturing, construction, and agriculture.  Throughout his career, Derick has performed various roles in security, risk management, environmental compliance, human resources, customer care, purchasing, and equipment maintenance.
 
He holds an Associate of Applied Science in HVAC from NECC College, NE and a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Management from Wayne State College, NE.  Derick is passionate about improving the health and safety of all associates and enhancing safety in Agriculture.
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Kelly George

Kelly George is the VP of safety and corporate affairs with Grimmway Farms. Kelly George has over 20 years in risk, safety, health, environmental, transportation, and insurance program investigation, development, and management with proven results. In addition to being an attorney with multiple advanced degrees, Mr. George has spent five years working for OSHA, learning regulations, educating businesses, and conducting investigations based on complaints and fatalities. Mr. George took that knowledge into heavy industry, where he led a steel mill to receive OSHA’s top safety program certification (Voluntary Protection Program – Star). Mr. George now works as a vice president for Rain For Rent, overseeing operations throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Mr. George has both domestic and international experience with multiple advanced degrees that contribute to his understanding of complex issues.

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Heather Fowler, VMD PhD MPH DACVPM

Dr. Heather Fowler completed her veterinary medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in 2010. After veterinary school, she received a master’s degree in public health in applied biostatistics and epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. In 2011, Dr. Fowler began the 2-year Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CSTE/CDC) Applied Epidemiology Fellowship, working alongside members of the Zoonoses group at the Minnesota Department of Health under the supervision of Drs. Joni Scheftel and Kirk Smith. During her fellowship, Dr. Fowler received valuable on-the-job training in public health practice. She was also able to conduct a study of occupational hazards present in the clinical veterinary setting in the state. In 2013, Dr. Fowler began a PhD program at the University of Washington School of Public Health in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences. During her time in Seattle, she also worked as the associate director of animal health for the Center for One Health Research (COHR) under the leadership of Center director Dr. Peter Rabinowitz. Her dissertation work focused on the hazards present in veterinary medicine with the goal of establishing a national cohort of veterinary personnel. After completing her PhD in the summer of 2017, Dr. Fowler began work as the director of producer and public health at the National Pork Board, where she oversees public health as well as occupational safety and health issues as they relate to swine production in the United States.

Dominique Damian

Dominique has worked in the safety and health field since 2008. She started with the Division of Occupational Safety and Health at the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries as a safety compliance officer and later as an industrial hygiene compliance officer. She is now a safety director for the Washington Farm Bureau’s safety program, where she has been since 2014. Dominique is the agriculture management representative for the Governor’s Industrial Safety and Health Advisory Board and has helped grow the Agriculture Safety Day conferences that serve hundreds of attendees annually.

Dominique has a master’s degree in industrial hygiene from Montana Tech University. She enjoys being able to apply her education and experience in the agriculture industry by conducting onsite inspections and consultations, safety training, and risk management assessments.

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Casper ‘Cap’ Bendixsen, PhD

Cap is the director of the National Farm Medicine Center and is a tenured research scientist at the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute. He also serves as the associate director for the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety and the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center. He was raised on a farm and ranch in Idaho and competed in bareback bronc riding for nine years. He earned his bachelor’s from the University of Idaho and his doctorate in sociocultural anthropology from Rice University.

There, he researched the ethical lives of contemporary U.S. pastoralists. His current work applies anthropological thought and research methodologies to agricultural health and safety. These projects include investigating the attitudes of farm parents toward children’s safety—specifically, the risks and benefits of youth’s involvement with agricultural work, training rural firefighters in farm hazard analysis and mitigation, and the possible health benefits of the diverse and rich biomes that exist on farms.

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Flint Belk, CIH, CSP

Flint Belk is the manager of occupational health at WCF Insurance. Flint oversees the industrial hygiene staff at WCF as well as field consultants in the Western U.S. Flint has over 25 years of experience as a safety professional with the Idaho National Laboratory and WCF. Flint has served as a member of an ANSI standards development committee and comes from a family farm background. Flint is a graduate of Utah State University with a BS in Industrial Hygiene and is a board-certified safety professional (BCSP) and industrial hygienist (CIH).

Secretary/Treasurer: Sage Saffran 

Sage Saffran currently serves as Manager of Sustainability Initiatives at NMPF. She works on the National Dairy FARM Program’s Environmental Stewardship and Workforce Development pillars. During her tenure at NMPF, Saffran has managed FARM Program implementation, resource development and stakeholder engagement for both program areas. 

Prior to joining NMPF, Saffran worked on food systems, plant agriculture and natural resources policy areas for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. Saffran graduated the University of Connecticut in May 2020 with a degree in Animal Science. She grew up in a small town in Connecticut and currently resides in Washington, DC.

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Vice Chair: Aaron Yoder, PhD

Aaron Yoder is an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center working with the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health. Prior to that, he was a Penn State Instructor and Extension Safety Associate, where he provided national leadership for the National Safe Tractor and Machinery Operation Program by coordinating online instructor training and educational programs for 4-Hers, volunteers, and county educators. In addition, he taught within the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and participated in other research and outreach programs for the Penn State Agricultural Safety and Health Program.

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Chair: Paul Riley, MBA, CSP

Paul is originally from Portland, Oregon, but now calls Utah his home. He is a certified safety professional with over 26 years of experience in occupational safety and health. He received his bachelor’s degree in environmental & occupational safety & health from Brigham Young University and his master’s degree in business administration. He has worked in the Safety and Health profession in several different industries, including mining, agriculture, insurance, government, and construction. Paul is currently the Corporate Safety, Health, and Environmental Director for AgReserves, Inc. AgReserves, Inc. is a global agriculture company with segment operations that include cattle (beef and dairy), permanent planting (nuts, citrus, peaches, olives, etc.), and row crops (potatoes, corn, wheat, soybeans, etc.). Paul has served as president of the Utah chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and other national leadership positions within ASSE and other organizations.