Co-founder of Saskatchewan Women in Ag opens dialogue surrounding mental health

Oct 23, 2017

Farm community continues discussions

Staff Reporter

The ag industry can play a pivotal role in helping farmers access support resources during stressful times, according to Kim Keller, a farmer from Gronlid, Sask. and co-founder of Saskatchewan Women in Ag.

“I think that the industry as a whole can encourage farmers to reach out by including mental health as a topic at different farm shows, conferences, seminars (and) meetings,” Keller said to Farms.com on Friday.

In addition, the industry could be more proactive versus reactive in order to help prevent the challenging situations farmers face, from escalating.

This proactive approach may involve “the industry training their front-line staff on how to deal with situations that they may come across when they’re working with their farming customers every day. And maybe (information on) how to recognize signs that someone may be struggling,” Keller said.

“I know, (for example), there are some companies out there working out how they might be able to offer confidential counselling to their customers through a third-party type-thing.”

Although there are initiatives to help farmers during stressful times, resources are a work in progress. Additional supports to better serve farmers are still coming down the pipeline.

“I think (other resources are) something we are exploring right now. I think that’ll take more conversations to be happening within the industry to find out how farmers want to reach out for help or how they want to be reached by others offering help,” Keller explained.

“And I don’t think I’m in a position right now to say, ‘this is what we have to do’ but I do think that is something that is top of mind for everyone taking on this conversation and moving forward with it. How do we do a better job at this?”

Overall, feedback from farmers has been positive and discussions are far from over.

“Most of the feedback has been, ‘it’s about time that we talk about this,’ and that most (farmers) are really grateful that we’re starting to talk about (mental health). I think it’s been far too long that we have ignored this side of our health.

“It’s like we’ve opened up the flood gates to this conversation now and no one is willing to close them until we start to deal with it.”

Previous Farms.com coverage on farmer mental health can be found here.

Video: How women saved agricultural economics and other ideas for why diversity matters | Jill J. McCluskey

Dr. Jill J. McCluskey, Regents Professor at Washington State University and Director of the School of Economic Science

Dr. McCluskey documents that women entered agricultural economics in significant numbers starting in the 1980s, and their ranks have increased over time. She argues that women have increased the relevance in the field of agricultural economics through their diverse interests, perspectives, and experiences. In their research, women have expanded the field's treatment of non-traditional topics such as food safety and nutrition and environmental and natural resource economics. In this sense, women saved the Agricultural Economics profession from a future as a specialty narrowly focused on agricultural production and markets. McCluskey will go on to discuss some of her own story and how it has shaped some of her thinking and research. She will present her research on dual-career couples in academia, promotional achievement of women in both Economics and Agricultural Economics, and work-life support programs.

The Daryl F. Kraft Lecture is arranged by the Department of Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics, with the support of the Solomon Sinclair Farm Management Institute, and in cooperation with the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences.