Farmers: Calloused Hands, Big Hearts

Have you ever looked at the calloused hands of a hard-working farmer? Those hands tell a story. Those hands tell thousands of stories… good or bad.

When you look at about how a farmer or rancher acts, what do you think? Strong, tough, rough, willing to work, and emotionless, maybe? Well, you are not wrong except the part about being emotionless. Farmers and ranchers tend to hide their emotions to help be the ‘tough guy’. A lot of farmers and ranchers do not want to express their feelings to the public or even their family members.

Like the blog, “Not just all about Cows and Plows”, we discussed how it is important to farmers and ranchers to not let their family members down. They do not want to show a weakness in their family.

Farming and ranching is known to be primally a man-based job; however, there are women involved heavily in the industry as well. In a Farm and Ranch Ag Update article,

The age of the deceased persons included in the CDC report varied from 16 to 102 years. Persons aged 45-54 years had the highest rate of suicide (22.7) and those aged 16-24 had the lowest rate (11.6). Among those who took their own lives, 77.2 percent were males and 22.8 percent were females.

Looking at these statistics we see that ages 45-54 and typically males are to commit suicide. Are those statistics as shocking to you as they are to me?

Hotlines and Hard Times

Men are hard to reach out to which makes hotlines and other ways of communication to them difficult. Sometimes even going to see a counselor or a therapist is a no go, because if a buddy of a buddy even finds out, the farmer/rancher feels weak. But, in all reality we need to find ways to reach out to them more and not make it such a big deal to talk about stress and emotions.

But, as I was reading an article from Aberdeen News I came across something I would rather have to disagree with,

“Counselors have advised farmers to alleviate stress by finding a different job — something many find impossible to contemplate, said Fahy, the spokesperson for Farm Aid, which runs the crisis hotline whose calls jumped by 92% between 2013 and 2018.”

Farmers are a special kind of breed. More than likely they were born and raised to farm and that is something they will never give up. If you were asked to give up the job you loved most, would you?

I would hope not. Doing what you love is one of most important parts of working. Farmers love what they do, there are just several struggles that come along with the job position. Counselors have a difficult job, but telling a farmer to get a different one, is something I would have to disagree with. If I walked up to my grandpa today, a 67-year-old man, who has farmed his whole life and told him he needed to quit his job, that would lead to even more problems. Making him question his worth of farming, HECK NO! Plus, he is one of the best out there so I would already know better.

Do not get me wrong though counselors and therapists are great ways to find help, and that was just an example of one counselor… that might have not had the correct training. All over the world, they are trying to find ways to help farmers seek help.

The Midwest states have put effort into opening hotlines and ways to help farmers call about their struggles or just any questions they may have.

A lady from Minnesota, has done some simple steps to help farmers reach out. First, she changed the name of the hotline. It was originally called the Minnesota Crisis Line and she made the point of no one wants to call a crisis line. Some people may not think their problem is big enough to be called a crisis, so they do not call. So, they got the hotline named, Minnesota Farm and Rural Hotline. Simple step, but it will go a long way for the situation.

The helpline consists of phone calls and a website. The website is filled with three options that include: connecting farmers with counselors, connecting callers with their local United Way living, and connecting callers with financial and business help. Those are three very crucial things to help supply farmers in need of questions or help. Between, July 2018 and February 2019 they had 57 calls and 1,300 visitors to the website… I would call that successful!

In New York they have a program called, NY FarmNet. People within in the company or organization go directly to the farm to meet the farmers instead of asking the farmer to come to town. They send two professionals out to the farm. One professional is specialized in finances and the other professional is specialized in social work.

NY FarmNet responded to 1,8000 farmer requests in 2018. They were able to help family farms and help go through financial situations to help reduce debt or help make suggestions for what they should do. This example seems to be beneficial to farmers that are willing to reach out and let someone help with these situations.

These two examples of how people are trying to help farmers are just the beginning. With more people being aware of the struggles a farmer may face helps tremendously.

Farmers may have some pretty tough hands, but they also have some pretty big hearts.

As always remember to reach out to people, ask them how their day is going and always be positive. Positivity goes a long way, even if you think it does not. Sometimes realism can be do harsh, so you have to find a way to be realistic but in the most positive way possible… I am guilty of being too realistic so I am trying to work on being positive about it at the same time. If you are like me, maybe we can work on this together? Being positive and realistic!