{"id":10397,"date":"2020-04-22T17:12:57","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T17:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/?p=10397"},"modified":"2020-04-22T17:14:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T17:14:36","slug":"canadian-farmers-feel-vilified-and-misrepresented-in-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/?p=10397","title":{"rendered":"Canadian farmers feel \u2018vilified\u2019 and \u2018misrepresented\u2019 in social media"},"content":{"rendered":"F<\/span>armers deal with a number of factors outside of their control that can affect their mental health but negative comments on social media can really a toll.<\/p>\n

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According to a survey published<\/a> in 2019 by Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton, a veterinarian and epidemiologist at the University of Guelph, 45 per cent of Canadian farmers were classified as having high stress levels and 35 per cent met the criteria for depression.<\/p>\n

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Briana Hagen, a PhD candidate at the University of Guelph, conducted 75 in-depth one-on-one interviews with Canadian farmers to better understand what is impacting their mental health. Hagen said financial stress and weather unpredictability are the common stressors farmers face but a large factor not usually talked about is public scrutiny.<\/p>\n

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Hagen said social media really impacts farmers mental health especially when they are doing their jobs, caring for animals and feeding the world and they feel like they are being \u201cvilified in the media and are misrepresented.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Farmers feel there is a big disconnect between what the general public thinks they do and what they actually do, specifically around animal activism. Hagen said social media makes it easier for people to voice their opinions but also spread misinformation.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen we spend our time attacking that way of life or assuming that farmers are not caring or they are just in it for money, which is one the most absurd arguments I\u2019ve ever heard, it\u2019s harmful,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cYou are not just talking about some entity; you are talking about a family.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cynthia Beck, a master\u2019s student at the University of Regina and a suicide intervention responder in south eastern Saskatchewan, said it\u2019s hard for people to understand that as a farmer, you may do an entire year of work and not receive a pay check at the end of it. There are many factors that are outside of a farmer\u2019s control, it can be easy to slip into a state of feeling like you have no control over your success or your failure.<\/p>\n

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Beck, who is also a mixed grain and cattle farmer outside of Regina, said people in the farming community have a difficult time reaching out for mental health support.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re also incredibly private people, we really are and in some ways we use that as a coping tool but in other ways, it\u2019s really hindering us from receiving help,\u201d said Beck.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She added there are varying factors that can make it difficult for a farmer to get an appointment with a mental health practitioner like workload, weather and the time of the farming season. Beck also mentioned a farmer\u2019s perception of whether the mental health practitioner has an understanding of agricultural demands.<\/p>\n

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Beck said many farmers find the courage to reach out for help and pay for a counselling session out of their pocket but the entire session is spent educating the mental health practitioner on what challenges they deal with as a farmer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Typical mental health services run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. by appointment but those hours aren\u2019t necessarily tailored for a farmer\u2019s tight schedule. A farmer may get an appointment six months from now but may be in harvest or calving season during that time which makes it difficult for them to leave their farm.<\/p>\n

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Last year, a group of researchers at the University of Guelph piloted a course called In the Know <\/em>after their research results concluded farmers were more willing to take a mental health training course if it was developed specifically for agriculture. The four-hour course was created to promote mental health knowledge, increase participants confidence in recognizing signs and symptoms of mental health struggle and see if participants had a willingness to talk about mental health.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Beck said it can be easy to hide mental illness but there can be obvious signs if the person is in front of you. If someone is usually well-groomed and wears clean clothes and suddenly aren\u2019t doing that anymore, that can be a sign of experiencing mental health difficulties.<\/p>\n

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Changes in mood can also be an identifier. Beck said people assume it\u2019s only bad or low moods that are a result of mental health illness but if someone who is usually an emotionally stable person is suddenly extremely happy and expressing a lot of emotion, that could be indicative of mental health illness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Beck said when entering a negative mental state, it is natural to focus on the negative areas of your life but encourages farmers to be factual and focus on their reality. She suggests get sleep whenever you can, eat when you can, stay hydrated and be accountable to yourself with the thoughts you are having.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0 \u201cI think there is conversations increasing around mental health which is very great to see and gives me hope that we will be coming to a state when people will be able to just speak about their mental health they way that they speak about a broken arm or broken leg,\u201d said Beck. <\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hagen said if you suspect someone is struggling with their mental health, just ask them if they are doing okay. She also encourages people to ask farmers questions to gain a further understanding and advocate for more mental health services tailored towards farmers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that farmers have mental health struggles at an elevated prevalence compared to the general population so we should advocate for more services and research for them,\u201d said Hagen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to an email statement from Tanja Kiperovic, a media officer at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), the ministry supports a number of programs to help farmers address their stress such as supporting producers facing immediate financial difficulty and offers farm business risk management programs to cover loss and damage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

OMAFRA has helped fund research through the University of Guelph to better understand mental health issues and provide effective resources for farmers and those who work with them. The Ontario government has committed to investing $1.9 billion over 10 years, matched by a federal investment, to make $3.9 billion available to support Ontarians with mental health, addictions and housing supports.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are not a lot of mental health resources that have been specifically developed for farmers, especially in Ontario. Saskatchewan<\/a>, Manitoba<\/a> and P.E.I<\/a> offer farm stress crisis lines that farmers can call for support. The Do More Agricultural Foundation<\/a> is a non-for profit organization that focuses on mental health in agriculture across Canada.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to OMAFRA, Ontarians have access to mental health assistance 24\/7 through the Mental Health Helpline, Ontario 211 \u2014 a province-wide crisis line \u2014 and distress centres across the province.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Farmers also have access to the Mental Health for Farmers \u2013 First Aid Kit on the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs website. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Farmers deal with a number of factors outside of their control that can affect their mental health but negative comments on social media can really a toll.   According to a survey published in 2019 by Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton, a veterinarian and epidemiologist at the University of Guelph, 45 per cent of Canadian farmers were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":11143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[141],"tags":[154,570,156,143,572,571,164,468],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10397"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}