Indiana recorded 17 farm-related deaths in 2025, continuing a decades-long decline in agricultural fatalities, according to Purdue University's annual farm fatality report.

The total was well below Indiana's long-term average of 29 deaths per year since 1970.

Ed Sheldon, an agricultural safety specialist with Purdue's Agricultural Safety and Health Program, said part of that decline comes from there simply being fewer people farming. But farms have also become safer.

“Newer equipment, whether it's a tractor or a combine or a piece of tillage equipment or whatever, it's orders of magnitude safer than it was even in my lifetime,” Sheldon said.

Tractors remain one of the most persistent hazards. Five of the 17 deaths in 2025 involved tractors, accounting for 29 percent of the year's fatalities.

Over the past 32 years, tractors have been involved in 43 percent of Indiana's documented farm deaths.

Sheldon said rollover protective structures, or ROPS, are one reason those deaths have declined.

“One of the biggest factors in making tractors, in particular, safer is the use of rollover protective structures,” Sheldon said.

ROPS became standard on new tractors around 1985, but Sheldon said farm equipment can remain in use for decades, leaving older tractors without modern protections still in operation.

Children and older adults remain particularly vulnerable. Three people killed in 2025 were younger than 18, while six were 60 or older. Together, those groups accounted for more than half of the documented deaths.

Purdue researchers also found Amish and other Old Order communities continue to account for a disproportionate share of farm fatalities. Sheldon said factors include older equipment, reliance on animal power and children becoming involved in farm work at younger ages.

Purdue recommends farm families receive CPR, basic first-aid and Stop the Bleed training because emergency response can take longer in rural areas.

“Being able to address the issue, whether it's a bleeding artery or a heart condition or whatever, with being able to address that to buy a little bit of time can be huge in the long-term prognosis for somebody that's injured,” Sheldon said.

Purdue has tracked farm-related deaths in Indiana for more than 60 years. Researchers caution the annual count is not comprehensive because most farms aren't required to centrally report deaths and injuries, and some cases can be difficult to identify.

“We'd love to prevent bad things from happening,” Sheldon said. “But we're not going to stop everything.”