INESC TEC leads project to promote greater safety and well-being for agricultural workers

It’s called Crops and Care – Addressing Occupational Health Challenges in Agriculture. This INESC TEC-coordinated project focuses on improving the safety and well-being of agricultural workers, a sector that has traditionally been disregarded – with limited scientific data on occupational health.

“The main goal of this project is to bring science into agriculture by creating the largest multimodal dataset on agricultural workers, contributing to the development of more effective and sustainable technological solutions and occupational health policies,” explained Susana Rodrigues, head of Human Resources at INESC TEC and Principal Investigator of the project.

Crops and Care features several other organisations, including INEGI, the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, ADVID, and Hospital de São João; together, they’ll contribute to generate not only scientific relevance but also societal impact.

INESC TEC is responsible not only for the overall coordination of the project but also for the classification of biomarkers and the analysis of exposure to external risks, making use of in-house technologies and internally developed wearable devices.

From a scientific standpoint, Rodrigues explained that the project seeks to “generate evidence on the impact of occupational risks on the health of agricultural workers, support recommendations and public policies that promote safer working environments, and contribute to reducing absenteeism, improving productivity and strengthening the sustainability of the agricultural sector.”

Scientific literature has consistently shown that safer and healthier working environments not only promote workers’ well-being but also have a direct impact on productivity and economic sustainability.

Accordingly, in terms of societal impact, Crops and Care aims to help reduce costs in health and social security systems through prevention, ensure a healthier and more skilled workforce – essential for the sustainability of the agricultural sector – and foster more responsible and sustainable people-centred farming practices.

“The project stands out for the unprecedented integration of physiological, environmental and ergonomic data in real agricultural work contexts, combining wearable technology, data science and public policy to transform how we understand and protect the health of agricultural workers,” added Rodrigues.

Crops and Care is funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), with an investment of €250K.