At Commodity Classic on Thursday, Bayer and the American Farm Bureau Federation announced the transition of Bayer’s Farm State of Mind campaign to Farm Bureau.
The initiative aims to raise mental health awareness among the farming community and reduce stigma surrounding the topic of mental health in rural communities. Farm Bureau plans to combine the Farm State of Mind with its ongoing Rural Resilience campaign to expand the reach and effectiveness of its rural mental health initiatives.
“As a third-generation farmer, I’m familiar with the stress of farm life, and I’ve heard heartbreaking stories as I’ve traveled the country about warning signs missed and loved ones lost,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “We’d like to thank Bayer for taking the initiative around this important topic and are excited to expand our impact by growing this campaign to connect even more farmers and ranchers with the resources they need.”
Complicating this issue is that many farmers are reluctant to talk about the effects of stress or seek help. The Farm State of Mind initiative provides farmers with resources, encourages conversations and reduces the stigma surrounding the issue of mental health. Transitioning this program to an organization as trusted as Farm Bureau will greatly expand its reach and effectiveness among farmers.
“Bayer recognized the need to help raise awareness on the important issue of mental health in farm communities – these are difficult conversations to have and our heart goes out to those individuals and families who have been impacted. That’s why we developed the Farm State of Mind campaign,” says Lisa Safarian, President of Bayer Crop Science for North America. “It was important for us to provide information and resources on the topic to those who needed it, but we quickly realized that this issue is much bigger than any one single company and no group is better positioned than Farm Bureau to take the lead on this campaign to help realize its full potential.”
Bayer and American Farm Bureau press conference 19:28Watch the press conference: