Agricultural Alliance NB develops resource for farmer’s mental health

On Jan. 21 to 22, the Agriculture in Transition summit was held in Kinsella auditorium. Scholars and workers in the agricultural sector came from across New Brunswick to host panels related to the farming industry in the province.

One panelist speaker, Victoria Hutt, focused on mental health in agriculture. She shared that farmers in Canada are two times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than the general population and about 20-30 per cent of farmers are reported to be suicidal, which is higher than any other profession.

Hutt is the mental health and safety coordinator at Agricultural Alliance NB. She is developing Farm Talk Care, a program that raises awareness and acts as a resource for farmers’ mental health and safety in New Brunswick.

“The biggest piece I think it could probably boil down to is chronic stress. There’s so many unpredictable pieces working in agriculture, especially for farmers and producers. And there’s not very many industries where the weather so strongly impacts your bottom line.”

Having grown up around farming in Florenceville, New Brunswick, Hutt has seen firsthand the struggles that farmers go through and feels that this is an important issue.

“I see in our communities that farmers are often undervalued. They’re often pointed the finger at when they’re doing something really important — they’re growing food for us that we all need.”

Hutt also emphasized the impacts of the economic crisis on farmers, stating that corporate control and monopolies in the food sector are problematic for them.

Rates of overwhelm and burnout are high among farmers due to stress, internal and external stigma around mental health and a lack of rural infrastructure and access to support.

This is what Farm Talk Care hopes to change.

Hutt and her team are working on the Farmer Wellness Program, which provides farmers with counseling, to be added to Farm Talk Care along with the peer support network that connects NB farmers, producers and anyone in agricultural service sectors.

“There are regional advocates and ambassadors of mental health and they’re accessing mental health training and tools that they can bring into their communities and programming.”

The team hopes to launch both programs later this year. In the meantime, Farm Talk Care also taps into the Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing (CCAW), the Do More Agriculture Foundation and additional organizations that are listed on the Farm Talk Care website for farmers to access.

Also included on the website are links to courses that teach farmers how to recognize and help those who are struggling, care packs of items to help them destress on the farm and an email newsletter.

“The most important message [to farmers] is that they’re not alone. They’re not the only ones feeling this way and there are supports available,” said Hutt. “The message of our program at Farm Talk Care is we want them to be able to keep on farming in a way that they’re thriving, not just surviving.”