Casper Bendixsen

I am currently the Director of the National Farm Medicine Center and am a tenured Research Scientist at the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute. I also serve 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. Personally, I was raised on a farm and ranch in Idaho and competed in bareback bronc riding for nine years. I earned his bachelors from the University of Idaho and my doctorate in sociocultural anthropology from Rice University. There, I researched the ethical lives of contemporary US pastoralists. My current work applies anthropological thought and research methodologies to agricultural health and safety. These projects include investigating the attitudes of farm parents towards 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.