How to Reduce Strain in Farm Work: Ergonomic Tips and Tools

In 2015, by chance, I found myself in a co-housing community in southern Germany, where I first encountered organic farming. Afterwards, I worked at three organic farms in succession, initially as a volunteer and later as an agricultural apprentice with Demeter im Norden. All told, I spent three years working on farms in Germany.

After returning to China, curious about how organic farms operate here, I spent a month working at a farm just outside my hometown. I noticed that while the actual tasks were much the same, the methods used to carry them out differed markedly from what I had learned in Germany.

Some of the young people working on the farm have never farmed before. They often arrive brimming with enthusiasm, but are soon left with aching backs, convinced that farming is simply too gruelling. In reality, this is mostly down to inexperience: incorrect posture, poorly chosen tools, and techniques that make the work unnecessarily exhausting and hard on the body.

What struck me, however, was that the older women who had spent half their lives farming made no such complaints. On closer inspection, I realised it wasn’t that they were physically tougher; rather, they simply knew how to work in a way that felt easier on the body, and how to get the job done more quickly and with less strain.

Physical labour demands as much mental engagement as it does manual effort. Back in China, I revisited the principles of ergonomics and realised that a great deal of the hardship associated with farm work is entirely avoidable. By adopting the right approach to manual labour, you can achieve twice the result with half the effort, making your work both less taxing and highly efficient.

I. I. Why Do Farmers Get Injured at Work?

When I attended vocational training for farmers in Germany, our instructor used an example to explain why ergonomics is worth studying: if you brush your teeth while hunched over a low sink, even just three minutes a day can take a toll on your lower back. The solution is to adjust your posture accordingly. For instance, by standing with your legs apart and knees bent to lower your centre of gravity, you can brush your teeth without bending over.

I studied ergonomics at university, but I always assumed it was only relevant for design professionals. In reality, the aim of ergonomics is to find the optimal fit between the human body and working conditions. Designers may provide well-designed tools and equipment, but workers should also learn to proactively adapt their surroundings to the specific task. This helps the work to be completed more efficiently and with less physical strain, while also preventing injury.

Ergonomics research specifically tailored to agricultural workers has been conducted abroad for some time. The US Department of Health and Human Services, for example, published a booklet titled Simple Solutions: Ergonomics for Farmworkers. It notes that prolonged engagement in movements such as forceful gripping, kneeling, lifting, squatting, bending, and twisting during work can lead to sprains, strains, and back pain[1].

[1] In medical terminology, this is known as Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSD).

Moreover, even seemingly harmless, simple movements such as reaching out to grasp an object or pressing a tool can gradually lead to injury over time if performed with poor posture. This is why the instructor used the example of brushing teeth.

So, how can you work efficiently and avoid injury? I believe there are at least two key principles to take away: be mindful of your working techniques, and learn to select and use the right tools.

II. Be Mindful of How You Work

The women who work on the farm manage to conserve their energy thanks to decades of hard-won experience. Though they have never formally studied ergonomics, they have instinctively learned the most efficient way to work. Having spent the past few years working on the farm myself, I have gathered a few insights of my own.

1. Aim to maintain a comfortable posture.

If you find yourself in an awkward position, adjust it straight away. Unless absolutely necessary, avoid staying in an uncomfortable posture for extended periods. Whether you are sitting or standing, ensure your work surface is at a comfortable height. Wherever possible, avoid bending over to do your tasks.

For instance, when weeding, try to use a hoe while standing upright rather than bending over; this places less strain on your lower back. If you encounter stubborn weeds that are difficult to tackle with a hoe, I find it better to kneel and pull them by hand or use a small hand hoe. Even when working on your knees, take care to protect yourself. Should prolonged kneeling cause discomfort, place a piece of cardboard underneath or invest in a pair of sturdy gardening knee pads.

Sometimes you will need to adapt your workspace. When I used to harvest kale on the farm, we would stack two plastic crates on the ground to create a makeshift work surface, then place a third crate on top to collect the vegetables. This simple arrangement meant we could pack the kale without having to bend over.

2.Where possible, alternate repetitive tasks with those that involve less repetition.

When scheduling your tasks, aim to vary the work as much as possible, allowing yourself to alternate between sitting, standing, and walking. If repetitive work is unavoidable, pause at regular intervals for a short rest and some light movement, giving your body enough time to recover. For example, weeding often requires repeating the same motion for hours on end. In such cases, try gathering the pulled weeds and carrying them to the compost area every thirty minutes. This way, you keep the job moving while also getting some movement and a necessary break.

3. Make use of external assistance.

In our ergonomics lessons, we learned a straightforward rule: when an item weighs more than 25 or 30 kg, you should always ask for help lifting it, even if you think you could manage alone. Beyond relying on human strength, you can also make use of tools. Where conditions permit, opt for hand trolleys or mechanical transport. Equipment commonly found on farms—such as wheelbarrows, two-wheeled barrows, and forklifts, as well as tractors and heavy machinery—can significantly reduce the physical effort involved in the work.

4. Find a method that suits you.

When working on the farm, one task involves loading potatoes into a large steaming vat to be cooked and fed to the pigs. My colleague taught me to use a large shovel to scoop potatoes from the ground and lift them into the vat, which stands over a metre high, but I found this motion particularly strenuous. As a result, I began by packing the potatoes into plastic crates, lifting the crate, and tipping them into the large vat. This approach may seem cumbersome, but it best suits my physical strength.

III. The Right Tools: The Farm’s Essential Toolkit

As well as your working technique, choosing the right tools is essential. Using a spade that doesn’t suit the task can ultimately mean doubling your physical effort and risking injury.

Since everyone differs in height, strength, and work habits, I recommend that each person finds the tools that suit them best. Before starting a new task, I consider which tools would work best, or try them all out to see which works best for me.

Take the forks I used on a farm in Germany, for example. They come in several varieties, each with slight structural differences depending on their purpose. Forks with straighter tines are generally used for garden or orchard work, such as lifting root vegetables or small trees. Forks with a slight curve fall into two types: a three-pronged hay fork, used for handling clean materials like livestock feed; and a four-pronged dung fork, used for clearing out sheds and laying down straw bedding.

On farms here in China, I’ve found that the most frequently used implement is the hoe. In the field, it plays the same role as a kitchen knife in the home: it can tackle practically any job. A single hoe can handle almost everything—preparing the ground, digging channels, weeding, and harvesting vegetables. I had never used a hoe on German farms, so during my first attempts here, I found it quite unfamiliar and felt it consistently straining my lower back. Each time I drove the blade forcefully into the soil, the impact inevitably jarred my back. Among all the farm tasks I’d done in Germany, I could scarcely find a similar motion, except perhaps when driving wooden stakes or hammering nails into the earth. This led me to wonder whether other tools could be used to replace the hoe and reduce the physical toll on the body?

Looking back at the farm implements I used in Germany, several can cover a portion of the hoe’s functions. Take this large fork for tilling and loosening the soil, for example. On farms, it is typically used to prepare planting beds before crops are sown. Breaking up the ground with it requires less effort than with a hoe, it disturbs the soil structure far less than machinery, and it rarely harms the earthworms underground. The fork head is broad enough to step onto; by leaning your body weight down to press the tines into the earth and then pushing down on the handle, the soil is naturally levered up. There is no need to bend over for these movements, as the majority of the force comes from your legs and torso.

Beyond simply breaking up the soil, this fork is surprisingly versatile. It’s excellent for harvesting summer carrots, for instance. Carrots are quite brittle, and if the ground is dry, pulling them out by hand often snaps them off. Using the fork to gently loosen the soil first (without needing to lever it up) makes pulling them much easier and keeps them intact. The same principle applies to harvesting other root vegetables. It’s also handy for lifting seedlings before transplanting; a quick pass with the fork loosens the earth around the roots, allowing you to lift the plants out effortlessly.

There’s also the small hand hoe for weeding. Weeding is such a frequent task on the farm that thick taproots are rarely a problem, so this tool is entirely sufficient. My mentor once took the time to teach me the proper technique. You should keep your back straight and stand diagonally in front of the planting bed, ensuring you cover the ground evenly as you move along. The blade should skim almost parallel to the surface, slicing through the weeds. When wielded correctly, it removes only the weeds, leaving the topsoil completely undisturbed.

Weeding can also be done with a palm-sized tool that fits neatly into a pocket, making it particularly handy. Small though it is, I actually find it more convenient for tackling larger weeds. When I’m experiencing neck discomfort, I simply lie flat on the ground to work with it, which reduces the strain on my cervical spine.

In Germany, there is also a tool known as a row marker. Once the planting beds are prepared, it is used to mark out the planting positions. It is indispensable on any vegetable farm; I even suspect that without it, Germans would not know how to grow vegetables.

The spikes on the row marker can be shifted side to side to suit different row spacings, or added and removed as required. The wooden handle swivels from side to side because, in practice, the operator typically stands alongside the bed and pulls the tool diagonally forward; an angled handle is essential to ensure the marked line remains straight. The row marker serves three purposes: it sets out the positions for transplanting, eliminates the need to dig individual planting holes, and allows you to work standing up. Altogether, it dramatically speeds up the transplanting process.

IV. The Joys of Farming

Farming is a vocation that demands professional skill, yet it also holds a unique joy all its own; the two are inextricably linked. Studying the weather and the soil, understanding flora and fauna, learning how to work in partnership with the natural world, and receiving its bounty—these are all part of that delight.

For me, as long as my body can manage, manual labour brings its own satisfaction—even tasks that appear monotonous or repetitive. This enjoyment comes hand-in-hand with a specific skill: learning how to work efficiently and comfortably. Choosing well-suited tools and adaptable methods, then putting them to the test in real-world conditions, is, for me, just as much a part of the joy of physical work as the labour itself.

The tools and methods shared here are intended only as a starting point. Ultimately, I hope farmers will keep experimenting and refining, adapting these practices to their own conditions. I also hope that more young people keen on pursuing agriculture will not be put off by the physical demands of the work, but will instead step forward and truly enjoy the fulfilment of being a farmer.

Foodthink says 

In previous articles, Foodthink has featured numerous resourceful farmers who have modified farm tools, such as Dahei from Lüwo Farm and Brother Liu from Little Willow Farm. Everyone has their own unique approach to farm work. What techniques do you use to make labour both easier and more efficient? We welcome your insights in the comments below.

The black and white images in this article are from Simple Solutions: Ergonomics for Farmworkers.

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2001-111/pdfs/2001-111.pdf

Unless otherwise stated, all other images and videos are sourced from the internet.

Editor: Wang Hao