Farming is an inherently dangerous and stressful occupation. The Purdue Extension Farm Stress Management Team was formed to support agricultural workers and agribusiness persons by addressing the ordinary and extraordinary stressors unique to the agriculture industry that affect their lives, their families and their operations. Through partnership with Purdue Extension Women in Agriculture (WIA) and statewide farm stress advisory council, the team has learned and received feedback from farm women about wanting more support. The team has developed a survey to identify the unique stressors and needs of Hoosier farm women and can be found at https://puext.in/Farm_Women. Input will be collected through mid-March.

Existing team initiatives include educational programs, a podcast “Tools for Todays Farmers,” and various outreach through social and mainstream media. All efforts are aimed at raising awareness of the impact of chronic stress on our mental wellness, teaching stress management tools, and normalizing the conversation around mental health in order to reduce the enormous barrier called stigma.

Tonya Short, project director for the Purdue Extension Farm Stress Team, said it is critical to the team’s efforts to hear directly from the persons they are seeking to serve. “We have heard from farm women anecdotally, now we really want to be able to collect that information on a statewide level so that we can best support farm women in our state.”

While the Ag Census shows that female farmers/operators are still the minority, we also know that women play a very integral role in agriculture that must not go unacknowledged, Short said.

All farm women from Indiana are invited to take part in the survey to make sure their voice is heard.

If anyone has questions about the Purdue Extension farm stress team, or about this survey, they may contact Short at 812-882-3509 or short43@purdue.edu. For the Purdue Extension Women in Agriculture program (including Annie’s Project), contact Kelly Heckaman at 574-527-5917 or kheckaman@purdue.edu.