A healthy farm is a productive and profitable farm.  Midweek slumps hit us all, so let’s talk about health during National Farm Safety and Health Week.

Health, a pretty huge topic.  Physical Health, Mental Health, Social Health just to start.  How healthy are you?  Nope, not talking about what the scale shows or how much you walk or even how well you hide your belly.  How’s your mental health.

Suicide rates for the ag world are super high.  In fact, they are the highest for workers in ag, fishing and forestry, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a report they released in 2016 from data collected in 2012.  In that study, suicide rates for ag and ag related occupations, the CDC found 84.5 suicides per 100,000 people.  That same year, the rate of suicide for the average populations was 16.1 per 100,000 people.

In the report it was stated that some factors that might contribute to suicide included “social isolation, potential for financial losses, barriers to and unwillingness to seek mental health services and access to lethal means.”

This is the perfect time to listen to one another, have a conversation with a neighbor or friend to see how they are doing.  We are all in this world together and you never are alone.  Reach out to one another and offer an ear to listen.  Who better to know what you are going through or what they are going through than someone else who is going through it too?  Let’s be each other’s support system.  Let’s be good neighbors.  Let’s be good friends.

National Farm Safety and Health Awareness Week runs September 17 through 23.  Stay safe this harvest season. A reminder from KOEL AM 950 and Dunkerton Coop.

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