Farm Bureau: Seeding Rural Resilience Act Will Help Producers

Source: American Farm Bureau Federation

The Seeding Rural Resilience Act creates three initiatives aimed at promoting mental health awareness in rural America:

• Implementing a farmer-facing employee training program that requires the Agriculture Department to provide voluntary stress management training to Farm Service Agency, Risk Management Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service employees;
• Forming a partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services and USDA to create a $3 million PSA to increase public awareness of farm and ranch stress and destigmatize mental health care in rural communities; and
• Directing the Secretary of Agriculture to work with state, local and nongovernmental stakeholders to collaborate and determine best practices for responding to farm and ranch mental stress.

The full text of the Seeding Rural Resilience Act is available here.

Anyone who is experiencing a mental health crisis can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24/7 at 1-800-273-TALK, or 1-800-273-8255.