Joint Effort Announced to Combat Farmer Stress

December 19, 2019 — 

Today, representatives from Farm Credit, the American Farm Bureau Federation, and the National Farmers Union held a press conference in the offices of the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee announcing a new joint program that will train people who work with farmers and ranchers to recognize signs of stress and connect those farmers with professional help. [Source: Successful Farming, 11 Dec 2019, by Lisa Foust Prater]

The program is based on one designed by Michigan State University Extension. During the press conference, MSU Extension's Mark Skidmore (pictured above), director of the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, explained how the program came to be.

"We really wanted to prepare our Exension agents who sit down at the kitchen tables with farmers in Michigan and really all over the country to be able to read signs of stress and effectively use research-based tools and education to help farmers walk through challenging times," he said.

Read the full article at Successful Farming.

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