Farmers are more isolated than ever before, not only by distance, but also by the busyness of neighbours.
That’s letting some crises occur just down the road with nobody realizing.
“We tend to be so busy that we don’t stop necessarily to talk to our neighbours on the road,” said Roberta Galbraith, a Minnedosa, Man., farm woman involved with the newly created Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program.
“You wave and you go by.”
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That was a concern shared by outgoing Keystone Agricultural Producers President Bill Campbell.
“Now we race by one another to another quarter-section, another 20 cows. We seem to be more competitive than co-operative,” said Campbell at KAP’s annual meeting.
He urged farmers to reach out to neighbours to keep community and communication alive.
“You’re not alone. As neighbours we need to support one another,” said Campbell.
Galbraith said it isn’t just farmers who should care for the farmers they interact with. Input suppliers and professionals can also help farmers who might feel isolated and despairing.
“If you see that something might not be right, if you walk into somebody’s yard and you think that the cows don’t look as well as they should, or the water is turned off, or you walk into a dairy farm and the cows haven’t been milked, all those things are likely (signs) that something’s not quite right,” said Galbraith.
Longtime farmer mental health advocate Gerry Friesen said the need for support and counselling for farmers remains high.
“I don’t see stress easing up any time soon,” said Friesen.
He said it has been important to offer counselling for farmers that deals with the specific reality of farming because farmers operate in a unique situation. That’s what the Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program aims to provide.
The program’s goal is to lend a hand to struggling farmers who reach out to it.
