Crookston Valley Cooperative and North Risk Partners are hosting “Farmers in Crisis – How you can help”, a free community event on Tuesday, January 21 from 9:00 a.m. to noon. in Kiehle Auditorium at the University of Minnesota Crookston. This is the fifth year of farming financial crisis and 2019 was one of the most challenging in the agriculture community’s history. There are many factors during this time to justify stress, however, there are tools the Crookston community can use to navigate this crisis better.
“When you hear the children in our community are telling church leaders they are worried about their moms and dads, it’s heartbreaking,” said Aaron Enge, Risk Advisory at North Risk Partners. “Justin Spivey at Crookston Valley Co-op wanted to find a way to help our struggling farm families and we at North Risk wanted to support that effort.”
Ted Matthews, an internationally recognized farmer mental health practitioner with over 30 years of experience counseling in rural areas. Matthews will speak about the most common farm stressors and how understanding the nuances of communication can radically change the situation. He will discuss farm communication as it pertains to: passing on the farm, women’s roles on the farm and crisis/suicide. Non-farmers will learn how to communicate more effectively with farmers by understanding the different needs of the rural community. Mary Preisler, director of the Farmer-Lender Mediation Program, will also speak at this event.
The event is free, and all are invited. The event is also open to people from all corners of the community to help reduce the impacts of the crisis.
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