IARN — When we think of the challenges we sometimes run up against in agriculture, we can usually rest assured that, eventually, somebody will come up with a solution. Whether it is smart sprayer technology, herbicide resistance, animal diseases, or even a trade war, usually these things balance out.
However, right now agriculture is facing another crisis. A crisis that is not necessarily new to the industry, but one that has been recently rearing its ugly head again. That crisis is mental health and suicide in the Ag community. Unfortunately, it is something that no amount of marketing, technology, animal husbandry, or seed chemistry can fix. No company or government agency is going to come up with the cure-all to fix this.
At least not by themselves.
Where the power is going to lie is to get all these companies, agencies, and commodity groups together. Then they will have the power in numbers to help do something about this problem. This is one time when brand loyalty doesn’t mean a thing. This is a problem that goes beyond the corporate structure, but one company is reaching out across those trenches to form alliances to fight a common enemy.
Lisa Homer is the Senior Communications Manager with FMC. She talks about the work that they are doing to help build a coalition in the Ag industry to help address the mental health crisis in agriculture. She says it all starts with having a tough conversation.
For more on this story, visit the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
Duane Mann plants soybeans on his Marshall county farm. (Photo by Dustin Hoffmann, IARN)
