Purdue University Press spoke with author Michael R. Rosmann about his new book Meditations on Farming: The Agrarian Drive, Stress, and Mental Health.
Q: Could you give a brief description of your book?
Unlike any other territorial species, humans have evolved to become agrarians. The unique drive of farmers to cultivate crops and undertake animal husbandry, their tenacious attachment to the land, and their stoic self-reliance are beneficial, but these same qualities also can lead to self-blame and heightened propensities for anxiety, depression, and suicide. Meditations on Farming: The Agrarian Drive, Stress, and Mental Health celebrates nature and agriculture, while tackling a very serious subject: the mental health of food producers. In this collection of essays and stories, Michael R. Rosmann—a farmer, clinical psychologist, public speaker, policy advocate, professor, and syndicated columnist—traces the development of behavioral health management and other methods for improving the well-being of agricultural producers. Sometimes tragic, often funny, and always engaging, Meditations on Farming shares the insights gained over a lifetime devoted not only to understanding farmers, but to helping and advocating for them.
Q: What is the goal of your book? What motivated you to write it?
My primary goal for writing this book is to make mental health care understandable and acceptable to all agricultural producers, their families, and their communities. Additionally, I want to inform all interested persons why people farm and how this drive resides in everyone’s genetic makeup.
When returning to my Iowa roots to farm, after an academic career at the University of Virginia teaching psychology and conducting research, it became immediately clear that farm people in my community and around the country needed mental health assistance coping with the Farm Crisis of the 1980s. Caring for the behavioral well-being of farmers became my life’s work. In this book, I share what I have learned from serving farmers and others in agricultural occupations for 45 years. I also describe how research and model program evaluation conducted with colleagues by the non-profit corporation I directed, AgriWellness, Inc., led to the determination of best practices that became the foundation on which the current, USDA Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network was established.
Q: What are a few things that are being studied for the first time in this book?
The agrarian imperative theory offers the best explanation yet why people farm. There are implications for everyone, because all humans possess expressed, or latent, genetic propensities to produce essentials for life (e.g., food), and to establish territories and social positions that facilitate their personal success, the procreation of progeny, the establishment of communities, and to protect these resources.
Readers will discover how farmers can manage their behaviors, while they cannot control many other factors that affect their livelihoods, such as weather conditions and markets for their products. Behavior management is key to making sound decisions that affect the success of their farming operations.
Q: Is there anything that shocked or surprised you while working on this project?
I was surprised by how many people encouraged me to write this book. They wanted me to share what I have learned from working with agricultural producers for 45 years, as well as my personal insights as a farmer and psychologist.
Q: Please tell us about the Ranch and Farm Assistance Network, what it is, what it does, how and why it is included in the current US Farm Bill?
The Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN) is part of the most recent (2018) Farm Bill, which currently is up for renewal by the US Congress. The FRSAN makes funds available through four regional Centers that provide grants and technical advice for state and local entities to carry out the purposes of the FRSAN. These main purposes are: 1) Establish hotlines and online services that are culturally appropriate for the agricultural population in need of assistance, including prevention of suicide; 2) Provide mental health and business counseling to farmers, ranchers, farm workers and their families that is available without charge, similar to an Employee Assistance Program; 3) Train licensed professionals and students in mental health fields about the unique characteristics of the agricultural population and how to best serve them; 4) Conduct education programs with farm families in their communities about mental health, behavior management, and finding resources; 5) Provide education to federal employees, such as the USDA Farm Service Agency staff, about the signs of stress of their clients, and how to assist them find necessary mental health and business management services; and 6) Evaluate FRSAN services, conduct research of unanswered questions about agricultural behavioral health and establish partnerships with farmer organizations, state, and private entities to advance the aims of the FRSAN.
The FRSAN is included in the current Farm Bill to improve the behavioral well-being of the agricultural population and to reduce their high rate of suicide.
Q: Are some behavioral health challenges unique to agriculture and farmers? What are they? Why are they more prevalent in this community? What is your advice to people facing these challenges or people trying to support those who are?
The culture of farmers differs from that of people who are not engaged in, or credibly familiar with, agriculture. People who till the soil, raise animals, or engage in other agricultural occupations, understand each other’s work ethic, their ties to the land and water, their spiritual respect for nature, and the trials that accompany their production of essentials for life.
The agricultural population experiences higher rates of anxiety disorders and depressive illnesses, and lower rates of personality disorders and psychotic illnesses than the general population. Suicide is much more common among the agricultural population than among the nonagricultural population.
Q: Pretend you’ve received $5,000 to help underserved people. How do you spend it?
That would be a nice opportunity. I would seek to assist such underserved people as Black and Native American farmers, and other economically stressed farm people who experience inequities. I would contact and bring together the underserved people in one or more community meetings to ask them what can be accomplished to benefit them with $5,000. Together, we would identify a task force to oversee the project(s) with the stipulation that all the funds must assist the underserved people in ways they identify and which have the possibility for long-term establishment. As the project develops, and if it meets the needs that the underserved community, I would ask the task force if they wish to seek additional start-up funds from federal entities, such as the FRSAN, and the NIOSH Regional Health and Safety Centers, that typically provide pilot grants through competitive reviews of applications. The task force would approach other potential resources, such as its State Department of Health and Human Services, private foundations, and local organizations that serve the target population, such as the Community Chest. The task force would guide any follow-up projects, including those whom they choose to administer their project(s). I would be available to assist in an advisory capacity only.
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