Farmer Resilience
When the going gets tough, is adjusting your focus enough? Experts say one of the best ways to build resilience and manage stress is to pay attention in the present moment.
Maddie Hokanson follows a simple, but profound, philosophy in life: start with why. As a seventh-generation farmer with Schafer Farms, she says the farm has served as a lifeline while adjusting to parenting a child with serious health challenges.
Before the war, Ukrainian agriculture boomed. Farmers like me increased production across our country fivefold in about 20 years. And I just keep farming. That’s what I can control.
A growing crisis is silently unfolding in agriculture. Farmers are 3.5 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. With mounting financial stress, that number could be on the rise this year.
We love what we do, and we’d prefer to focus our time and energy on our vocation of food production. Yet we also know that we need a voice in the corridors of power—and when it comes to farming, nobody’s voice holds more power than the voice of the farmer.
When you grow up on a farm, certain phrases become ingrained in your vocabulary, like “feed the calves” or “fix the fence” or “mow the grass,” but one phrase, in particular, is notably absent.
Transitions of any kind are hard — but farmland might be one of the toughest, says Steve Bohr of Farm Financial Strategies.
For many service members’ transition to civilian life, the journey is not just about finding a job, but rather discovering a community that values their unique skills and experiences.
Little did Sydni Mell know the resilience and courage ingrained in her upbringing on the farm would become vital tools in facing unwelcome adversities that awaited her after high school.