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Join the University of Minnesota Extension Crops team in addressing all your crop-related questions this growing season, from soil fertility, agronomics, pest management and more. We will tackle issues as they arise to help you make better crop management decisions this season.
Just getting started up again. So I wanna apologize to folks last week, who couldn't make it. We had an outage with Zoom. So it looks like things are starting up again okay. So we're kinda just double checking what's going on.
Anthony Hanson:So first, start off. Good morning, and welcome, everyone. We're starting up our sessions of Strategic Farming Field Notes again. So, again, these are our weekly webinars. Also, get turned into podcasts if you can't make it to them.
Anthony Hanson:We're basically here to answer questions that you have and have a discussion. It could be related to today's topic, and then we will have other topics coming up the rest of the summer. So if you do want to submit any questions later on, we'll give you some options for that for other topics coming up here. So first, I wanna mention that these sessions are provided with generous support from Minnesota farm families through the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council as well as the Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council. This is all done through University of Minnesota Extension, and it's kind of this network has helped pretty well for making sure that we've been able to get out to farmers and other folks across the state on some of our pressing egg topics.
Anthony Hanson:And today's session is one of those. We've kinda previewed it a little bit as the topic that no one wants to talk about. I will let our speakers kinda introduce that a little bit more, but the preview is that, you this know, is gonna be dealing a bit more with, basically, financial stress, and kind of mental health a bit there, what's going on, in terms of issues with that lately. Because we've had some, you know, cases lately that, you know, have basically been farmers that, you know, we've actually had to make sure that, you know, things are gonna be going alright there, and it's some tough topics there. So that's kinda all I'll say on that one right now.
Anthony Hanson:First, our speakers, Angie Peltier. She is a regional extension educator based out of Crookston on the crops team. She's been dealing with the the subject quite a bit lately. And then also Meg Moynihan. So she is with Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
Anthony Hanson:Kinda working as the farm stress lady is kind of the title she's been using here. So it's kind of a good combination for this topic here, I think. And, Angie, I think I will hand it off to you in just a second. I had one thing I gotta remember to add. If you have any questions, feel free to use the q and a option at the bottom of your screen there.
Anthony Hanson:That should show up for you if you kinda hover at the bottom, and you might have to click more on the side there if you don't see it. The chat will save for technical issues. Alright. So with that, Angie, I'm going to hand it over to you. And, basically, if you wanna in introduce kind of what you've been working on in this area and what you've been seeing, especially this spring or summer.
Angie Peltier:You bet. Thank you, Anthony, and and welcome to Meg here today. So I'd like to tell everybody a story this morning, and I'm gonna thank you in advance for your attention to this matter because in my mind, not anything that we will talk about this summer during this podcast series is more important than the topic we're gonna be talking about here today, and that is, mental health. And I will tell you a little bit about myself. I am a plant pathologist by training.
Angie Peltier:As Anthony says, I I work on the crops team for University of Minnesota Extension. So what the heck am I doing talking about mental health? Well, it it is a topic that, sort of fell into my lap in my interactions with the public here here this summer. And so, I'm gonna tell you a little story. This is a true story.
Angie Peltier:My my colleague, Jokim Weirsma, and I, I I fielded a call this spring from a farmer. Actually, I was returning a voice mail. And so I called the gentleman back, and it was a a winter rye, a cereal rye question. This gentleman, I won't tell you where in the state he was, but he was from, from Minnesota, and he had a winter rye crop. And he was curious.
Angie Peltier:He had had problems with his rye crop in the past, and so he wanted to just call and and get our opinion about whether or not we thought that the crop would survive, whether it was something that he should consider, you know, scrapping as a crop and and planting soybeans into that field. And so, you know, a really a technical crops related question he called about. So being down at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center in the basement here, my, colleague, two doors down, happens to be the small grain specialist for for University of Minnesota Extension, like I said, Joakim Weirsma. And so I thought, well, let's both of us get on the phone and talk to this gentleman on speakerphone and and get to the bottom of his his questions, allay some of his concerns, and hopefully steer him in the right direction regarding his crops question. Well, during this conversation, it became evident just through the gentleman's tone of voice.
Angie Peltier:He had a very, he sort of spoke in a monotone. There was no emotion up or down. And every everything we mentioned got it's as if he was not thinking clearly. He he had a hard time, thinking about what the very complex topics he was he was asking us about, and everything that we we brought up or was sort of met with a, well, yes, but what about yes, but what about and so everything, everything was was a catastrophe. And it became evident.
Angie Peltier:My my colleague, Yokum, and I looked at each other, and and we just said, this gentleman is not okay. And so, I tell you, when when you realize that nothing else matters. Nothing. We I climbed. So I was standing next to my colleague.
Angie Peltier:I had to climb over him to get to the farm and rural stress brochure. My immediate inclination was to drive to him. Again, I am not a mental health practitioner. I have no idea what I would have done had I gone to this gentleman. But that was my natural inclination, which was sort of the wrong inclination.
Angie Peltier:But in the meantime, I was able to, to talk with him. Jokim, the situation got a little bit too heavy for him. So he he left, got got done answering the gentleman's questions. He left. And, so I I asked the the gentleman.
Angie Peltier:I said, would you mind hanging on for a second? And so I took him off of speakerphone, and I just asked him, you know, are you sound very down. You sound as if something is is not okay with you. How are you? How are you doing?
Angie Peltier:And he said, I'm not okay. And, I'll tell you, that's an incredibly helpless feeling to have somebody tell you that they're not okay. And then the next question came along. Okay. I'm really sorry that you're not okay.
Angie Peltier:But are you are you into you know, thinking about harming yourself? And he said, what's the point? Yes. What's the point? I don't I don't see any reason to stay here.
Angie Peltier:Farm stress is real, folks. These issues have been compounding for for years now. You know, I found out in about five minutes, talking to this gentleman the just serious issues that he is dealing with personally, you know, through his his own health, the the state of his home, his farm, crops over the years, how how, you know, he's had crop failures, and they all piled on him. And and, he lived alone. Everything piled on him, and he he just reached the end of his his rope.
Angie Peltier:And so I am I'm so thankful that he called us. So thankful. But but the reason we need to talk about this topic is because farm farmers work alone for a lot of the time. And when you have a lot of time alone and the economy is not so hot right now, the crops economy in particular, you know, you have a lot of windshield time and a lot of time with your thoughts. And so, when you don't have other people around to sort of interject, and say, well, actually, you know, have you thought about this?
Angie Peltier:You know, just, additional perspective. It it becomes all the more difficult. And it's a it's a very lonely profession. It's a dangerous profession. I mean, there's tons of risks on the farm, but this is an incredible risk, mental health and and poor mental health or declining mental health.
Angie Peltier:Because if you think about it, in the the story I just told you, the gentleman, as I said, he was not thinking clearly. Do you think he's gonna be safe working around, his PTO shafts? Do you think that he's going to be as mindful as he should be when he's when he's cleaning out, where he he's loading up, grain or checking his grain bins. I mean, this is this is so darn important, and that's why we're we're bringing up this topic today. And Meg, who works for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, has worked with a large coalition of of ag groups to try and and increase awareness and decrease the stigma of talking about mental health.
Angie Peltier:Because in my mind, you know, very little else matters if you're not here. I can't help you grow better crops if you are no longer with us, and and our country needs you so much. Our state needs you. Our our communities need you. Our our families need you.
Angie Peltier:Our friend your friends need you. All of us need you to be okay. And so the the more we can talk about it, the more we can let people know that that, you know, it's okay to have all of the emotions. You know? It's, oftentimes in in our society, men are are socialized that there's two acceptable emotions, anger and contentment or happiness.
Angie Peltier:Guess what? You can be sad too. It's called being human. All of us struggle at certain points in our lives. And so I just want want to to talk about this issue because it one, it's important.
Angie Peltier:And two, we are all human. None of us are meant to do this alone. And so I I would really encourage folks to reach out and to if you see somebody that's struggling, maybe share some of the resources with that person that is struggling. We in this day and age, we do not want to have regrets. You know, we we want to keep people you know, we don't wanna pry.
Angie Peltier:We don't wanna get into you know, make people feel uncomfortable by asking questions. But at the same time, sometimes sometimes asking a couple of questions is is all that matters to that person because it might illuminate that they are struggling. And so, the folks that are here on on this this webinar live here today, thank you for attending. And I I'm glad that that Meg is here to share with us some of these resources. Meg, what do you what do you think would be the most effective resources that we could share with with folks that are struggling in rural Minnesota?
Angie Peltier:Well, first, I really wanna come back to something that you said, Angie, about the fact that this gentleman who called you was ex had had been and was experiencing a whole complex assortment of stressors. It wasn't just one thing. It wasn't just his rye. Right? It wasn't just one thing.
Angie Peltier:But these issues can snowball, and they do snowball over the years. And when we think of
Meg Moynihan:how responsible farmers are and how careful they are about doing things right and making things work on their operations, you know, for themselves, for their families, for their communities, for their livestock, if they have livestock. You know, they wanna make sure things are okay. And by the same token, what are they controlling? The weather is a problem. The pests are a problem.
Meg Moynihan:The government. My my agency is a problem. You know? Public perception is a problem. Loss of their friends and neighbors is a problem.
Meg Moynihan:You know, we we've got so many we've got all this land still. We're we're super productive. We're very efficient producers in this state, in this country, but we've lost a lot of the human beings who used to be on the land. So, I mean, you might not have that support network or those those people who are kind of in the same boat with you. I certainly see that.
Meg Moynihan:I'm a dairy farmer, and I see that in dairy. You know? It's just people are like, well, why are you leaving now from this event? I said, well, we have to go home and milk cows. In the olden days, everybody had to go and milk cows.
Meg Moynihan:Right? And now you're just sort of a freak. But to to your question about what what resources do we have, that's really one of the things that I wanted to share with the Crops team today is, some of the things we do have in Minnesota and how you can access those. So when you're in a conversation with somebody, often the best thing you can do is listen to them, and that is what Angie and Jocham did for this gentleman was listening to him and asking him some leading questions and just helping him open up a little bit. Because a lot of times when we're struggling with stress, we have this, like, mouse running around in our head.
Meg Moynihan:You know? It's just there's a wheel and it spins and spins, and we've never we've never heard ourselves talk about this out loud. So sometimes when you speak it out loud, you get a different perspective on things. And sometimes not, but it's it's extremely helpful. So that is one of the really valuable things that you and Jochem were able to do for this gentleman.
Meg Moynihan:But you also knew what else to do. You you said you you climbed over a desk and got the coping with farm and rural stress brochure, and that's something that we produce at the Department of Agriculture. That list is a it's a very short brochure. It's pretty tightly curated, but it has resources in it that may help you and your farmers at any given time. One of those resources is our farm agricultural mental health specialists.
Meg Moynihan:We are unique in Minnesota that the legislature appropriates funds for farm and agricultural mental health services. So these are we have three women who are licensed mental health practitioners. They're various different parts of the state and they provide services to families, farm family or, farmers, farm family members, other people connected to agriculture who are struggling with psychological or emotional issues. It's free. It's completely confidential, and they do these services.
Meg Moynihan:They will meet one on one if the person wants to meet. If the client wants to meet in person, they will do a Zoom, Zoom sessions. They will even do telephone sessions. They find that some of the older farmers don't wanna don't wanna see anybody, don't wanna be on a screen, but I'll talk to you on the phone from, you know, the cab of my tractor. So that has been an extremely important program to us in Minnesota.
Meg Moynihan:And they are very busy, but they are making time to see clients for as long as those clients need help. They have they have their own specialties, and sometimes if it's an issue that they think a their colleague could do a better job with, they will help kind of broker that situation. But their names are Monica. Monica's in the Northwest. Jenny is in the Central part of the state, and Tracy is in the Southeast part of the state.
Meg Moynihan:And some of you old timers may remember a guy named Ted Matthews, who was our very first, farm mental health counselor, and he was with the program for about twenty five years before he retired last last year. And so we're we have a slightly different model. We have three three women now. How's that gonna go over with Guy Farmers? I don't know, but it seems to be working because they're getting lots and lots of calls.
Meg Moynihan:So I think that's one really, important resource. Other thing I just wanna mention off the top here is how both you and and Anthony were talking about the financial stresses that are going on now and how serious, serious like a heart attack, these costs and these market uncertainties and these commodity price uncertainties, how how serious those are and how frightening they are. We have a network in Minnesota of farm advocates, and this is another program that the legislature funds. These are either retired farmers or retired farm business management specialists, and they will help farmers navigate complex financial problems, financial crises. You get a call about repossession.
Meg Moynihan:You get a call about or you're considering bankruptcy. You wanna know about that. You get a notice of for mediation, and you don't know what that is. That's an awesome program that is run by the University of Minnesota Extension that I I hope you all know about it. If not, that would be another great topic for this team, I think.
Meg Moynihan:And so but they will, you know, pull up at the kitchen table and they will run cash flows, and they will run balance sheets, and they will help you find an accountant if you need a different accountant or an attorney if you need an attorney. They provide they they've all been through these issues before. So they're they're not, like, wet behind the ears well, meaning people just out of school trying to help you solve your problems, but they have experience with all of this. And particularly the farmers, I mean, they have all been through their own personal health. So they are there, and and we like to say they're in the farmer's corner.
Meg Moynihan:So they don't have an agenda except to help the farmer navigate whatever the business issue is or a natural disaster issue because we've been having more and more of those as well. And sometimes navigating the government programs, you know, you need a buddy to go into that with you, and so they are there. And and some of them become, you know, friends with the families they have helped, and they exchange family, you know, holiday cards through the years. You know, it's just you you can build up a relationship with that that. So those are two things that I'd mentioned off the top of my head.
Anthony Hanson:So, Meg and Angie, I've got one question for you. This kinda goes back a little bit to the example with the or farmer with the rye example. But you think about a lot of farmers, we tend to be a more stoic bunch, but then also, you know, sometimes we just grape both crops a little bit. Might be we might just say, like, oh, I don't think the beans will do that well this year or something like that. How do you take that tendency and figure out, okay.
Anthony Hanson:Is this just, you know, normal, you know, farm talk, or is this someone in the background they're really thinking, I might be the generation that loses the farm? That's not easy to pick apart, but I think that's kinda what we're getting into with your example, Angie, that it was a lot more serious. And some folks, when they hear initially about, like, the right question or other things, they might think, oh, it's not that serious. It's just kinda normal, feelings about farming. So how do you address that question?
Anthony Hanson:Because I know that can be a challenge.
Angie Peltier:Oh, that's such a good one, Anthony. As you know, and and Meg, both of you. I mean, Anthony, is on a a cow calf operation right now, and Meg is on a dairy farm right now. And so both of you know this all too well. Not only is farming part of your profession, it's it's also your identity.
Angie Peltier:It is your culture. It is it is your heritage, and that puts undue pressure on on folks that are that are doing this this vital work. And, you know, it's I I think that in the in the past, and and you've probably seen this, Meg, when folks have decided to give give up dairy farming, I mean, that is that is a huge disruption in a person's in a person's life. And so it just is added stress. I'm not sure.
Angie Peltier:It it seems that, you know, there's there's other stressful jobs out there, you know, working on a working on, you know, one of those crab boats you see on on, on the Discovery Channel. That's that seems to be a scary, dangerous, and stressful job, that also has heritage involved. And and I the way I look at it is that's that's just an additional thing piling on folks' shoulders. What do you think about that one? I
Meg Moynihan:think that's true, and I think that there are two really, really poignant and dangerous emotions that that we can link to farming and farm challenges and farm stresses, and that is fear and shame. And, Anthony, what you mentioned about that, will I be the generation to lose the farm? Whether that's because I can't manage my my way out of the situation. I made a lot of good decisions, but I made them at the wrong time. I've seen that happen to farmers, really good farmers, made some expansion decisions.
Meg Moynihan:The dairy market tanked. They were getting $12 for their milk. And really through no fault of their own, boom, they're out of business. And now they're a pariah in the community for all the bills they can't pay. So so there there are some of those issues, but then there's also we have to acknowledge that there are farms that you know, they raise an airline pilot and a school teacher and a stockbroker, and all of a sudden, it's like, wait.
Meg Moynihan:There's nobody to take over the farm. So I didn't raise a farmer. So now my my farm I mean, my kids are all successful. I'm proud of them. They're great, but I didn't raise a farmer.
Meg Moynihan:And so, you know, the legacy of my forebears, you know, perhaps I'd let them down. And, you know, what does that mean about the future? So I think we have to be sensitive to those, those very, I guess the word I used earlier was poignant, those really poignant emotions that come. I I will say that, Extension does tremendous job with programming on farm transition and farm succession issues and does workshops. And then, the Department of Ag and Minnesota State and Extension collaborate on retreats for farm families who are beginning the process of transitioning a farm, you know, either to somebody they know or somebody they don't know, but there there's a change a generational change going on.
Meg Moynihan:And I think that that as crop, you know, specialists, you're probably seeing a lot of your clients who are either moving into farming or moving out of farming, and that just is one of the most stressful, emotionally difficult times. And so please know that there are those resources out there to to help you and to help your farmers.
Angie Peltier:Well, and think about it too, folks. There's a reason why all of these resources exist. And and like Meg was talking about, the fact that Ted Matthews had done that that job as a rural mental health counselor for twenty five years. That means for twenty five years, the state and the folks that work in the state, for all of us taxpayers, they understand just the type of pressure that that folks that farm are under, and they value you enough. And our taxpayers value the the work that you do enough that limited taxpayer dollars are going towards these resources.
Angie Peltier:And they're so they exist for a reason. And, boy, if folks folks don't take advantage of them, that is a missed opportunity. They're here for a reason, and that's because the state sees the value you bring to to our state. Even if, something happens, and let's say let's say as you retire, you end up having to rent out the farm because you don't have children that want to take over. You know, you did a great job.
Angie Peltier:You did the best you could, and you're a human being. And we even all of us make mistakes, but yours just are mistakes that that can be worth, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars. And so we we value you, and we want you to be okay. And so, Meg, you talked about the the mediation. Can you can you talk a little bit more about that?
Angie Peltier:I understand that there is a a huge uptick in folks needing that, and it kinda comes as a surprise at times.
Meg Moynihan:Yeah. In in Minnesota, farmers have a legal right to seek mediation for debt of anything more than $15,000. So that means you have the right to negotiate with your creditor. And the University of Minnesota runs that program with trained mediators. They're not on anybody's side.
Meg Moynihan:They're just to try to reach a mutually acceptable agreement. Sometimes it's with a lender. Sometimes it's with FSA. Sometimes it's with an implement company. You know, they they've had people who've come in with interest rates of 28% on a on a on a tractor.
Meg Moynihan:You know? It's just it can get out of control really quickly. And so that program is free and available. Farmers are notified about it, but but frequently when you are really down, you stop opening your mail. And things pile up because you know it's bad news.
Meg Moynihan:And so, there's there's a window of time in which you have this right to negotiate, with your creditor, and, so people need to open that mail to find out and and act on that quickly because it's not gonna cost them anything, and it may be a path to a solution. But you're right. They're they're getting just flooded with mediation notices from creditors saying we intend to pursue this. I'm mindful of time, and I just wanted to say one other quick thing is we have a website, minnesotafarmstress.com, and that lists the resources that are unique to the state, not just Department of Agriculture resources, but University of Minnesota extension resources and other other helpful things. And there's also a place there that you can order brochures like the coping with farm and rural stress brochure in English and in other languages.
Meg Moynihan:You can order little wallet, I guess you can't see this, wallet cards for our Minnesota Farming Rural Stress helpline, and, can koozies and, you know, just the kinds of things that we if people see these these the idea of help over and over again, it becomes more normal and less scary. So please take advantage of that. We would love to be able to send them out to you to keep in your vehicle or take to events.
Anthony Hanson:Well, thanks, Meg. I like that question about the bills because I know plenty of folks. I think we all know people that they don't open their mail right away when it's bills, and that's a habit.
Meg Moynihan:I do it. I do it. I have masses of paper all over my house, so I know.
Anthony Hanson:Yeah. So it's all little things that can contribute to farm stress too. So whether it's financial, mental health so you you mentioned quite a few things. If if there's just one thing people should keep in their mind for, like, who to contact or what to search for, what's the first thing that comes to mind for you if there's anything that whether it's people kinda in more actual crisis mode or kinda getting there, definitely in the stress, like, what should they look up kind of as the first stop there?
Meg Moynihan:For my money, the the most important thing to do is just what Angie did was ask the question. Are you okay? Are you thinking of taking your own life? That's a scary question. You need to practice answer asking that because it's happening more and more.
Meg Moynihan:But but making that space so people can open up and being brave enough to be feel a little foolish. Use your elbows. Don't be so Minnesotan and say, hey. You know, I haven't seen you I haven't seen you at the cafe lately. What's going on?
Meg Moynihan:How are you? What's happening? And really listen to them.
Anthony Hanson:Alright. Well, I think we're at time here, unfortunately. So I I wanna thank both of Angie Peltier with University of Minnesota Extension and Ben Goinan with Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Yeah. Important topic today here.
Anthony Hanson:Also, I just wanna thank everyone again for attending today. And, basically, University of Minnesota's extension field notes, this program is meant to be responsive to, you know, everything we're dealing with in crops, especially really across agriculture. So some days, we'll have agronomy updates. Other days, it will be topics like this. So we get good coverage, especially with our support from our sponsors for this one Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council as well as Minnesota Soybean.
Anthony Hanson:Again, thank you for both of you. I just wanna let folks know anyone who's on the webinar today. When you log off, there should be a quick survey. So if you fill that out, that helps us know how things are going with the program here. But then, also, you should be able to submit questions if you have some coming up for future programs there too.
Anthony Hanson:Alright. We'll be back again next week. We're still figuring out exact topics, but we'll probably be covering, some potential agronomy updates. We'll, see kinda how we're doing for schedule there. But I hope everyone has a great rest of the day, and we'll see you next week.
Anthony Hanson:And if you do need CCA credits, you might be able to self cert certify for those. So we have a self report link for those who are on the webinar for that. Again, thanks, everyone, and, we'll see you next week.