“This is about taking care of the people who take care of us.” — Don McMoran
In the words of Steven Pressfield, “Internal resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will deceive and fabricate; it will seduce you.” But in agriculture, Resistance isn’t abstract — it’s real. It comes in the form of drought, debt, silence, and shame.
This week, The Wenatchee World published a deeply human story by Renée Díaz on the farm stress crisis in Washington. The story lifts the veil on a truth many prefer not to look at: that our food comes at a cost far beyond the grocery aisle — a cost paid in long hours, uncertainty, and emotional isolation.
At the center of this vital piece is Don McMoran — a fourth-generation farmer, Director of the WSU Skagit County Extension, and principal investigator behind their farm stress program, launched in collaboration with the Department of Health and WSDA. Don’s message is clear: Farmers are breaking under the weight. And yet, they continue.
This program is not charity. It is strategy. Free counseling. Financial coaching. Peer-support training. It’s not about weakness — it’s about endurance. About ensuring those who feed us don’t suffer in silence.
To every farmer, grower, and worker who’s ever held on when the forecast turned, when the numbers didn’t pencil out, or when the stress became a storm of its own — this is for you. And to Don, for leading with purpose: we see you, we thank you, and we stand with you.