Additional resources supporting mental health are helping to recognize underlying stressors farmers face.
Ohio State University rural sociologist Shoshanah Inwood tells Brownfield there are often invisible mental health issues in agriculture aside from suicide. For example, she says her research is finding postpartum depression is common and likely higher in rural areas.
“In almost every focus group we did, there was a woman who mentioned having postpartum depression, and over half of our national sample of farmers who responded said that they knew somebody or had somebody in their family that had suffered from pre and postpartum depression,” she says.
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A new nationwide study is providing insight into childcare challenges in farm families and across rural communities.
Ohio State University rural sociologist Shoshanah Inwood tells Brownfield access to affordable, quality childcare is a significant issue for young farmers.
“I think one of the biggest myths that we’ve actually come across in this research is there’s an idea in agriculture that childcare is just not an issue for farmers, that there’s lots of family around to care for the kids, and yet you can also bring the kids to work,” she says.
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The Farm at Trinity Health in Michigan is working on integrating nutrition into health care in the Midwest. Its mission is to grow a healthy community by empowering people through food, education, and relationships.
Amanda Sweetman, regional director of farming and healthy lifestyles for the Farm at Trinity Health says one of the goals is that nutrition security will be accessible to all, and diet-related illnesses will no longer be the leading cause of death in the United States.
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A $20 million investment will help expand high-speed internet in rural communities.
The USDA says the funding will support the development and expansion of broadband cooperatives through the agency’s Broadband Technical Assistance Program. The agency is partnering with small towns, local utilities, and private companies to conduct the projects.
The initiative was made possible through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provided $65 billion to expand high-speed internet access.
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The House is expected to vote Wednesday on an agreement in principle that would raise the debt ceiling while reducing government spending. The agreement, known as the Fiscal Responsibility Act, includes a temporary expansion of work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The updates would allow veterans, the homeless and others to qualify for food stamps and raise the age for work requirements to 54-years-old. The changes would sunset in 2030.
The Congressman from South Dakota, Dusty Johnson, a lawmaker who had proposed stricter work requirements for SNAP in the next farm bill, tells Brownfield he pushed for the work...
The USDA says warm, dry weather in most of the Midwest allowed farmers to make good corn and soybean planting progress last week.
As of Sunday, 92% of U.S. corn is planted, compared to the five-year average of 84%, with 72% of the crop emerged, compared to 63% on average. The first corn rating of the year has 69% of the crop in good to excellent condition, 4% less than the first rating for 2022.
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