Research shows that farmers die from suicide at a rate twice as high as the rest of the population, and Illinois officials are taking steps to help reverse that trend.
The Illinois Department of Agriculture, in coordination with the Illinois FFA Foundation and the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, will expand the state's Farm Family Resource Initiative to all 102 counties.
Illinois Ag Department Director Jerry Costello said the program will bring much-needed mental-health services to rural parts of the state.
"I think we're all aware that farmers have risks that maybe a lot of other occupations don't have," he said. "Some of them are obviously very uncontrolled. And unfortunately, farmers' suicide rates are exponentially higher."
He said the program, which will be funded by a series of state grants, is aimed at breaking down the stigma of accessing mental-health services in agricultural communities.
Costello said a unique feature of the program will be the participation of local branches of the Future Farmers of America, who'll spread the word among their families and neighbors. The program will fund up to 20 grants for $1,000 each year to support FFA chapters implementing local initiatives to encourage access to mental-health resources.
"We were trying to come up with a way to get the awareness out that this program exists, but also to do it through kids," he said. "They don't quite have the stigma of asking for help that a lot of people, especially in rural communities, do."
Costello said people who live in small towns are less likely to go to a therapist's office or clinic, so the program will be available through a toll-free hotline, by text and email, as well as telehealth. He said the goal is to reach as many farmers and their families who need the help.
"What we've got to do a good job of is making sure that people in rural communities are aware that this service is offered," he said, "and making sure that they are 100% confident and know that this is confidential in every way, shape, or form."
To reach the program, call 1-833-FARM-SOS (1-833-327-6767).
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Advocates for a fair, sustainable and healthy food system have released a report showing increasing consolidation in Montana's agriculture sector.
Economists said such conditions can lead to market manipulation. The report from the advocacy group Farm Action showed 85% of the beef raised on U.S. farms, including in Montana, is produced by four companies: Cargill, JBS USA, National Beef and Tyson Foods.
Angela Huffman, president of Farm Action, said the concentration in the ag industry is happening all the way from farm fields to the consumer's plate, and she warned it creates the potential for artificial price controls.
"This is the scenario in almost every sector of the food supply chain," Huffman pointed out. "Seeds, fertilizer, farm equipment, beef, pork and poultry processing, and retail groceries; every one of those sectors I just named has upwards of 60% to even 85% of those markets are controlled by four corporations."
Consolidation in the livestock industry means more animals are raised in large confinement operations, where manure runoff can affect air quality, ground and surface water in rural Montana. Operators have said they are researching more efficient and environmentally friendly ways to raise livestock while trying to keep up with growing consumer demand.
Huffman argued monopolies can lead to collusion, price fixing and other types of market manipulation. Her group and others are urging lawmakers in Congress to address the issue in the pending Farm Bill.
"We're calling on the government to reclaim its role as an enforcer of our antitrust laws and break up these dominant corporations," Huffman explained. "In order to free our economy to start working for the people who are producing, processing and distributing our food."
The current Farm Bill, which officially expired last September, has been temporarily extended, although lawmakers have yet to agree on a new version of the major legislation.
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Some northeast Wisconsin residents are challenging a wastewater permit issued by the state to a large dairy operation.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reissued the wastewater permit to Pagel's Ponderosa Dairy in August. Petitioners are now requesting the State Division of Hearings and Appeals to review the terms for water monitoring and limits on the number of animals.
Adam Voskquil, attorney for Midwest Environmental Advocates, said the DNR has the authority to protect communities.
"We've been pushing for a few years now to see them use that more often, and this is one of those instances where they didn't do enough," Voskquil contended.
A 2021 Supreme Court ruling allowed the DNR to include terms on groundwater monitoring and setting size limits on concentrated animal feeding operations. But with more than 330 of them across the state, Voskquil said the DNR has included the terms in only a handful of permits. A spokesperson for the agency said they cannot comment on ongoing litigation.
Pagel's Ponderosa Dairy owns about 20,000 animals between its two locations in Kewaunee County, and produces more than 100 million gallons of liquid manure it spreads across 10,000 acres of land. Voskquil argued the land is susceptible to contamination.
"Pagel's is kind of playing a shell game with transferring manure between their operations," Voskquil asserted. "There just needs to be some threshold, some limit, to the growth of this operation."
The DNR states concentrated animal feeding operations are required to spread manure on land set back from drinking water wells, sinkholes and fractured bedrock and cannot have any runoff to rivers and lakes, among other requirements.
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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the name of the poultry producer. (9:55 a.m. MDT, Oct. 28, 2924)
Some Wisconsin poultry farmers have been left in the lurch after a sudden bankruptcy shed light on a law that prevented state officials from coming to their aid.
The processor Pure Prairie worked with about 50 farms in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa to raise broiler chickens.
Agriculture departments in the other two states stepped in to help farmers after Pure Prairie filed for bankruptcy last month. But in Wisconsin, farmers had to resort to giving away tens of thousands of chickens on Facebook.
Jason Mugnaini, executive director of government relations for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau, said the state just didn't have the structure to deal with such a situation.
"This very particular circumstance identified a gap in our state and federal laws," said Mugnaini. "That's really what it came down to, is that we didn't know that this was even a gap that existed in state statute."
He explained that in Wisconsin dairy, vegetable, and grain farmers have an indemnity fund available to make a claim in situations like this. Poultry farmers don't.
Reports from one farmer in western Wisconsin say Pure Prairie owes him nearly $100,000.
Mugnaini said the first part of the crisis was getting the chickens off the farms. Now, it's about keeping these farmers in business.
"The abrupt nature in which this really occurred left people in some really dire straits," said Mugnaini, "and that's really what the biggest challenge is right now, is how are we going to get these folks back up and running, continuing to produce agriculture, get them paid for what they're owed?"
On the federal level, poultry farmers have coverage under the Packers and Stockyards Act to make a claim and be compensated.
Mugnaini said it's just taking longer than they expected and there's no way to speed up the process.
"Working though trying to get those dollars out the door is going to be the most important piece of the next steps of this," said Mugnaini, "and then really trying to figure out how something like this happens, how we can prevent it from going forward."
The Wisconsin Farm Bureau says there are about 300 poultry farms like these in Wisconsin.
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