MOULTRIE — The Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD), Georgia Department of Agriculture and the University of Georgia (UGA) Extension launched a statewide collaboration at the Sunbelt Ag Expo to address mental health in the farm community.

“It’s a privilege for a Dawson County boy to be in Moultrie, Ga., today, with our Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper and Dr. Laura Perry-Johnson from the UGA College of Agriculture and Science. The three of us stand here today in solidarity for the women and the men of this state, who grow our food and who are the best of our state’s values,” said DBHDD Commissioner Kevin Tanner.

The three state leaders held their first “Faith and Farm” forum with a group of farmers and pastors from South Georgia before the press conference on Oct. 18.

“We’re planning to hold these in every corner of Georgia, taking it to where the farmers are and listening to them and hearing from them their struggles and what they believe would help solve some of the issues,” he said.

Tanner said that they would be holding the listening sessions over the next several months and are partnering with Mercer University, who had spearheaded a study on the mental health challenges faced by farmers.

“The fact is that 151 of 159 counties do not have enough mental health workers and not a single county in rural Georgia has enough health care workers. We’re facing a healthcare shortage. If we want farmers to reach out, we need to be ready to meet them where they are,” he said.

Tanner introduced Harper, who thanked him and DBHDD for recognizing the importance that Georgia’s number one industry plays in the state.

“And that our farm families play and that agriculture plays in the success of our state and its economy. But it can’t be successful if our farm families aren’t successful and our farm families can’t be successful unless they’re able to take care of themselves,” Harper said.

He said the purpose of the press conference was to encourage the farmers, producers and ranchers across the state to understand the signs and the issues related to their mental health.

“I understand firsthand the challenges that our farmers and producers face all across our state and understand the challenges every single day from weather to inflation to input cost. and then on the back side of that, the price that we get at the market place and the control and really lack of control that we have sometimes as those of us in the agricultural industry. and how that weighs on us as individuals. How it weighs on us as farmers and producers,” said Harper who grew-up on a family farm in South Georgia and is still farming the same land today.

He said that he and his team at the Department of Agriculture are committed to working with farmers, producers and ranchers across Georgia in partnership with the DBHDD, the University of Georgia and other industry partners like Farm Bureau.

“We’ve shown that commitment through our investment of over a half of a million dollars over the last few years through the department and investing and ensuring that Georgians understand the role that mental health plays in the success of our farm families,” he said.

Harper said that he was shocked to learn that 40% of farmers have thought about suicide in the last twelve months, which was one of the statistics that came from the study that Mercer University did over the past year.

“That’s sobering. It really brings home the fact that we really need to think about ensuring that we get the message out and we get the message to the right folks,” he said.

Harper again referenced some of the issues that farmers faced and told the audience that it was okay to reach out for help.

“It’s okay to reach out to friends and family. It’s okay to reach out to your spouse. It’s okay to reach out to your uncle, your grandfather, your best friend. Whoever the person may be. Your pastor,” he said.

The biggest message, he said, that they wanted to push out was for the members of the agricultural community to speak up when they were having challenges and have those conversations with their friends and family.

“We want to encourage you to do that because your success is our state’s success. Our state can’t be successful if agriculture is not successful and agriculture can’t be successful if our farm families aren’t successful and our farm families can’t be successful if they’re not healthy at home and we want you to be healthy at home,” he said.

He said that he looked forward to finding ways that they can bring awareness to the mental health issue and had launched a Mental Health Champion social media campaign over the last year to do that and wanted to continue to build on it to encourage the agriculture community to be involved.

Perry-Johnson, associate dean for Extension at the University of Georgia spoke next: “In agriculture, we are a community and we work together on just about all issues,” she said.

She said mental health was another issue that faced the agriculture community. She grew-up on a family farm about seven miles from Spence Field in Colquitt County.

“I’ve seen plenty of rural stress and plenty of farmer stress in my life. It’s a hard occupation but it is also a wonderfully fulfilling occupation. We all know agriculture drives Georgia’s economy and it’s very important for us to keep the farmers and the farm families healthy,” Perry-Johnson said.

She said that the UGA Extension has a presence in all 159 counties and that makes them uniquely positioned to be the “boots on the ground” when issues arise.

“And when we started seeing stress in our farmers and our farm families after Hurricane Irma and then Hurricane Michael. There’s always been stress but the level of stress just continued to rise,” said Perry-Johnson.

When the pandemic came along, she said, people were no longer afraid to say, “Hey, this is a lot. I need help. I need resources that I don’t have. I don’t know where they are.”

She said that they held their first rural health summit in partnership with USDA in 2018 and then after the hurricane in 2019, they started offering resource fairs to the farmers that would let them know things like how to apply for crop insurance.

“But we also saw these mental health issues and we reached out to DBHDD,” Perry-Johnson said.

She said that one of the things that UGA Extension has done is train its workforce to understand the signs of rural stress. It has added licensed health professionals to their workforce. She said that they have also reached out and tried to find grant funding to support their work.

“We’ve gotten over $2 million worth of grant funds from USDA to support rural stress,” she said.

She said it was a pleasure to be at the press conference with the partners and friends supporting those in agriculture and rural communities that the Extension serves. She said that there were resources available on the UGA Extension’s website.

“We are stronger when we work together,” Perry-Johnson said.

Clay Talton, the director of field services at Georgia Farm Bureau, said that the bureau works to be a voice for agriculture and they recognize that their farmers face unique stressors, which can negatively impact their mental health.

“And we are glad to play a vital role in helping to find solutions. Our non-profit the Georgia Foundation for Agriculture is helping us work towards a solution,” he said.

He said that the foundation worked with Mercer University to commission a study and received over 1,600 responses from farmers.

“Mental health is an issue that we need to talk openly about. We found that 85% of Georgia farmers all express feeling moderate stress, much higher than average. To protect the future of farming, Georgia Farm Bureau is actively working on the issue to support our members and all Georgia farmers,” Talton said.

Matt Berry of CB Farm Land & Timber LLC in Sumter County, Ga., weighed in next with, “As you can see by the people who spoke before me, they’re trying to create an avenue for us to get help amongst ourselves. One of the biggest tools we’ve got is amongst ourselves. Reach out to your neighbor. Talk to your neighbor. Talk to them. You know how they are every day. You can tell when they’re out-of-sorts. and one thing that is for sure I can guarantee you because I live it every day, if you’re not all right, he ain’t either or she ain’t either. So reach out to your neighbor. Let’s talk about it amongst ourselves and let’s come to the table because they’re offering tools for us and trying to figure out how to get in what we do for a living. So, with that, thank you.”