Farm State of Mind – Responding to the Challenges of Rural Mental Health

Back-to-back years of a challenging farm economy and weather disasters, followed by the Coronavirus pandemic, have taken their toll on many farmers, ranchers and their families. Rural stress can be especially harmful due to the risk of isolation and a go-it-alone attitude among farmers and ranchers. Raising awareness of the issues and funding for rural health care services, including tele-health, and reducing the stigma surrounding mental health will encourage farm and ranch families to seek help and help each other. This session will feature different perspectives on the issue of rural mental health and information about Farm Bureau’s efforts to respond to this key moment in agriculture.

Speakers:

Meredith Bernard

Meredith is a wife, mother, farmer, photographer, writer and YouTuber living, working and sharing her real from the beef cattle farm she calls home with her husband and two children in North Carolina. Her biggest passion is storytelling and helping others see the importance of sharing their own, believing we all have more in common than we tend to realize.

Randy Roecker

Randy is a 3rd generation dairy farmer from Loganville, Wisconsin. After several years of battling depression himself he helped form a support group for farmers known as the Farmer Angel Network. The Farmer Angel Network builds strong rural communities that support agriculture by providing education, resources, and fellowship with a focus on mental health.

Marshal Sewell

Marshal is a fifth-generation agriculturalist from Plant City, Florida. He grew up on his family’s strawberry and vegetable operation, earned a degree in Food and Resource Economics at the University of Florida, and is currently a territory sales manager for Seminis Vegetable Seed – a division of Bayer Crop Science. After losing his father to suicide while growing up, Marshal now serves as an advocate for mental health in the agriculture community.

Chad Vorthmann

Chad was born and raised on a fourth generation row crop and cattle farm in southwest Iowa. He attended the University of Nebraska, competed on the livestock judging team and studied journalism and diversified agriculture. After college, he worked as a beef nutrition specialist. Two years later, he joined the staff of the Nebraska Cattlemen’s Beef Association and was eventually hired to run the national Beef Quality Assurance program for NCBA. Wanting to work more closely with grassroots members, Vorthmann went back to the state level, joining Colorado Farm Bureau in 2002 as the Director of Communications. He was promoted to Vice President of Organization in 2007 and Executive Vice President in 2012. Chad’s wife, Garin, works for Colorado Legislative Services, who provides contract advocacy services for Colorado Farm Bureau. The couple has two daughters. Chad enjoys cycling, and hunting elk, deer and black bear on the family’s cattle ranch in Southwest Colorado.