Our surrounding environment helps build our immune system; what we are exposed to can impact what our immune system can handle. Emily Bourdeau, a graduate student of the Miner Institute, explained why farm kids are often healthier in a recent Farm Report article.

Studies have shown that children who grow up on farms are at a lower risk of developing health conditions such as allergies. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that children living on a farm have a significantly reduced risk of asthma, hay fever, eczema, and atopic sensitization compared to kids who had no farm exposure, Bourdeau said.

A Protection against Allergy Study in Rural Environments (PASTURE) project took a closer look at the relationship between farm exposure and hay fever and found that farm kids developed half the risk of contracting hay fever compared to those with no farm exposure. “The proactive effect of being exposed to a farm environment has been summarized as the farm effect,” Bourdeau noted. “The farm effect is a phenomenon where exposure to a farming environment in early life protects children against asthma, hay fever, and atopic dermatitis.”

It's obvious that farm kids are exposed to many things around the farm. Because of this, it comes as no surprise that children raised on a farm are potentially more immune to illness than those who are not raised on a farm. Think about the last time you remained healthy as those around you seemed to catch the crud. You can thank farm life for that!