Item No. 1 of 1

INVESTIGATOR: Webb, M.; Forstadt, LE, .

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
MAINE DEPT OF AGRICULTURE
AUGUSTA, MAINE 04330

MAINE FARM AND RANCH STRESS ASSISTANCE: SUPPORTING AN INCLUSIVE AND RESPONSIVE CONTINUUM OF SERVICES

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Maine FRSAN amplifies existing efforts for farmers and land stewards in Maine through a comprehensive and diverse approach to stress. Resources for mental health support exist, yet knowledge and referral are limited. Improved case coordination is a wise investment to increase how quickly farmers receive support for mental health crises or any number of situations that contribute to farm stress. In pursuit of greater equity, Maine FRSAN directly supports BIPOC farmers through a fellowship program with the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust and community-led food and medicine projects across tribal communities with the Eastern Woodlands Rematriation Collective.Farm stresses are diverse, and through Maine FRSAN, farmers can receive direct connection to mental health counseling, financial support to buy adaptive equipment, assistance with workplace conflict, and referral for a business consultation. A wellness fund will directly support over 200 farmers with stipends. Coordination with FRSAN-NE will provide access to training and avoid duplication of programs.This state-level effort addresses stress in a holistic and comprehensive way that includes direct service for farmers in immediate need, referral for farmers anticipating conflict or stressors, and broadens the audience of providers who understand the needs of the agricultural community. Training of municipal partners will engage in state-level conversation and action to address systemic racism and exclusion of farmers of color in Maine.This project will support current farmers, establish multiple avenues to engage future farmers and farming communities, and serve as a catalyst for state-level support to address stress in Maine.

OBJECTIVES: Maine FRSAN amplifies existing efforts for farmers and land stewards in Maine through a comprehensive and diverse approach to stress. Resources for mental health support exist, yet knowledge and referral are limited. Improved case coordination is a wise investment to increase how quickly farmers receive support for mental health crises or any number of situations that contribute to farm stress. In pursuit of greater equity, Maine FRSAN directly supports BIPOC farmers through a fellowship program with the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust and community-led food and medicine projects across tribal communities with the Eastern Woodlands Rematriation Collective.Farm stresses are diverse, and through Maine FRSAN, farmers can receive direct connection to mental health counseling, financial support to buy adaptive equipment, assistance with workplace conflict, and referral for a business consultation. A wellness fund will directly support over 200 farmers with stipends. Coordination with FRSAN-NE will provide access to training and avoid duplication of programs.This state-level effort addresses stress in a holistic and comprehensive way that includes direct service for farmers in immediate need, referral for farmers anticipating conflict or stressors, and broadens the audience of providers who understand the needs of the agricultural community. Training of municipal partners will engage in state-level conversation and action to address systemic racism and exclusion of farmers of color in Maine.This project will support current farmers, establish multiple avenues to engage future farmers and farming communities, and serve as a catalyst for state-level support to address stress in Maine.

APPROACH: There are a range of efforts that will be utilized in this project, including formal training opportunities for farmers and farm workers, on-farm coaching, the creation of new online tools for easy access, formal training opportunities for service providers, and the provision of vouchers for direct wellness support for farmers. We will provide a more detailed explanation of the methods and evaluation in early August.

PROGRESS: 2021/09 TO 2022/08
Target Audience:The Maine Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (Maine FRSAN) is targeted towards farmers, farmworkers, and agricultural service providers. This included those working the land, in aquaculture and forestry positions. The Maine FRSAN project has amplified existing efforts for farmers and land stewards in Maine through a comprehensive and diverse approach to stress. In an effort to reach our goals of 1) Raising awareness of supports for farmer mental health, 2) De-stigmatize farmer mental health, 3) Increase knowledge and skills in areas linked to farmer stress and mental health, and 4) Provide direct support to farmers in Maine, we have assembled a diverse and engaged advisory group that is actively working to bring the project goals to fruition. The advisory is a group of 18 individuals from 14 different organizations in the state who are serving different agricultural populations. This allows us to make informed decisions to ensure a greater impact on specific agricultural communities. Specifically, farmers, farmworkers, and land stewards that have been marginalized due to their identity or intersections of identities. These communities often face an increased vulnerability to stress and additional barriers to accessing care for their mental health. This includes but is not limited to land stewards who identify as Black, Indigenous or a person of color, LGBTQ or Queer, migrant or seasonal farm workers, and farmers with a disability. Maine FRSAN believes that by engaging and prioritizing funding for organizations that are serving these target populations, we are better able to address their access needs when it comes to mental health and well-being. Additionally, when implementing different programs, such as the Farmer Wellness Fund or PFAS Farmer Wellness Fund, we have worked closely with organizations on the Maine FRSAN advisory team to ensure access: Mano en Mano has been contracted to provide translation services in Spanish and Haitian Creole, we have worked with staff at the Somali Bantu Community Association to ensure that Somali farmers have access to the fund through the SBCA staff providing assistance in Maay Maay, their primary dialect and staff at Cultivating Community are making sure immigrant farmers have access by ensuring that interpretation can be provided in their primary language. We are taking applications for the funds online and over the phone in various languages to ensure that technology isn't a barrier when seeking care. This allows the Wellness Fund, which is intended to holistically support Maine farmers and Maine farm workers to help reduce stress and build resiliency, to be more accessible to more individuals in our state. Changes/Problems:Initially when the project began, there was a small team of people internally working on the project. As time elapsed and the project funds arrived, we assembled a diverse and engaged advisory board across 15 organizations to support the work. Many of these individuals have received program grants for their work with specific agricultural communities. As a result of this, the project expanded the contributors to decision-making and has been so much greater informed. Initially, we had divided our budget into separate project funding pots. These included Trainings for the Farming Community, Trainings for Municipalities, the Farmer Wellness Fund, and the Small Grants applications. Members of our advisory board joined working groups for each specific project to provide input and recommendations. With each project, specifically the Wellness Fund and the Small Grants applications, the working groups spent valuable work time developing a process to disseminate the funds and to build in flexibility for applicants. Ultimately, every recommendation was run through the PI, Leslie Forstadt at UMaine Cooperative Extension, and the PD, Alex Redfield at the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry. However, by incorporating the input from various individuals who are serving target agricultural populations, we have been able to make our programs more accessible and inclusive in nature. One of those changes involved the translation services provided by Mano en Mano for each fund. As mentioned above (in Item 3 and Item 5), the PFAS Farmer Wellness Fund was not a part of our original plan for the Wellness Fund. However, when news of PFAS contamination in farmland and waterways became the reality for producers in the state of Maine, organizations worked to provide resources for the growing number of individuals who were facing uncertainty about their production. Stress levels were naturally high, and Maine FRSAN partnered with MOFGA to release a subsection of the Wellness Fund to be available to PFAS affected farmers, farmworkers, and Indigenous food and medicine growers. The PFAS Farmer Wellness Fund has continued beyond Maine FRSAN's initial funding, through the PFAS Emergency Relief Fund, a program of the Maine Farmland Trust and MOFGA. Agricultural service providers were also facing high levels of stress, and Maine FRSAN members worked together with other UMaine Extension organizations to provide a series of training around self-care, communication, and resource sharing for PFAS. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A sub-group of the Maine FRSAN advisory group is focused on trainings for the Maine farming community. Their focus is on what trainings are currently available that address farmer stress and amplify those efforts, and adapt and design new training programs that fill gaps within areas of farmer mental health. Maine FRSAN is in the process of developing more trainings (which will be highlighted in Item 7). So far, the project team has had a training series geared towards agricultural service providers and a series of movement, health and wellness training for individuals who work in agriculture (land, forest, and sea). In the earlier part of the year, the news of PFAS contamination in farmland was circulating in Maine, leaving farmers stressed and looking for more answers. Naturally, they looked to their local agricultural service providers, who provided resources, consultations, and a pathway for farmers to follow if they suspected their land was contaminated. This took a toll on service providers and a team of people from Maine FRSAN, the Maine Agricultural Mediation Program, and UMaine Extension's Farm Coaching, got together to host a The Conversations I am Having: A Place for Service Providers to Debrief PFAS. The series provided opportunities to debrief about the conservations they had been having, build communication, support, and vital self-care skills during a time of uncertainty. Over 100 service providers attended over the course of the 8 weeks of the training. Of note, a local behavioral health specialist, Allegra Hirsh-Wright LCSW, from Maine Behavioral Health led two talks for the participants: a 75-minute training "Secondary Trauma, Empathic Strain, and Professional Resilience 101" and a session with Q&A focused on "Reconnecting to Joy". Hans Hageman from Cultivemos gave a presentation about de-escalation strategies to participants. For farmers, Maine FRSAN partnered with Cynthia Flores of Labor-Movement LLC to hold multiple workshops free for Maine farmers/farm workers. Labor-Movement's mission is to help farmers, fishermen, landscapers, and industrial athletes to improve their movement health + wellness, increase efficiency and extend longevity in a season or career. The Safe Labor Movement workshops help to increase work productivity, efficiency and help decrease workplace injuries. There have been over 25 participants in the four workshops across the state. Through our contract with Labor-Movement LLC, farmers and farmworkers can receive up to $500 to spend on Labor-Movement's services, which includes group workshops held on the farm, and individual movement assessments. An additional 26 individuals have utilized their services for movement assessments and 71 total participants have held a movement workshop on their prospective farms. Additionally, farmers can work on their communication with the help of the Farm Coaching team. Farm coaches work directly with farm families or farm teams on planning, collaboration, communication, giving and receiving feedback, and handling conflict. There are eight farms currently involved in farm coaching. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The primary methods for disseminating information have been through internal and external outreach efforts. Some of the outreach efforts are housed through the UMaine Cooperative Extension, including the Maine Farm News newsletter, the Website, and media releases (as mentioned in Item 3). The Maine Farm News newsletter goes out bi-weekly to farmers in the state and features important farm news, resources, grants or other applications. We have used that platform to highlight issues of farm stress, provide resources and tips for farm wellness, and to promote the various events or trainings being offered to support farm well-being. The website focuses on Agricultural Wellness and Resilience. Featuring resources and tips around crisis support, a hub to share 'resilience resources' for the agricultural community, and upcoming events, training or workshops focused on supporting farmer well-being. It is updated regularly to include weekly opportunities. The media releases are utilized anytime we have had a specific training or program being offered, such as the Labor-Movement events, Wellness Fund, etc. UMaine Cooperative Extension has a Facebook as well, and we coordinate regularly with the staff member who manages it to promote the various opportunities available. A new endeavor is a social media campaign through instagram (@mainefarmwellness) where we feature a similar section of resources, wellness tips, quotes from the Cultivemos podcast Cultivating Resilience, highlight local organizations, and provide crisis support information. Building up a social media presence takes time, but we are working to develop a presence that farmer's feel they can engage with and find value in. Utilizing instagram allows us to re-share posts from partnering organizations and other community resources on our stories. This allows for our presence to be more expansive and therefore, inclusive. We have been working on some collaborations with our partnering organizations, through internal and external outreach, and instagram is a great mode for making those collaborations visible. Partnering organizations can re-share our posts, too, and as a result, increase our follower engagement and awareness about farm mental health and well-being. We have used various internal listserv platforms to disseminate information to communities of interest, as well. There are various targeted listservs of Maine producers throughout the state. There are also various internal platforms used for Agricultural Service Providers. The Maine Farmer Resource Network has been utilized to share upcoming events or programs to other organizations, who then are able to share those resources with their constituents. Additionally, regional list servs have been utilized to pass on information, such as the internal platform for Cultivemos (FRSAN - Northeast), the Be Well Farming listserv through Cornell, and the Northeast Queer Farmer listserv. We have engaged in direct outreach with organizations and individuals via e-mail as well. The UMaine Extension Marketing and Communications team worked with us to develop an icon. The icon is to be used across UMaine Extension programming to signify "farm wellness". This helps to tie in outreach coming from Maine FRSAN, which includes programming and training that Maine FRSAN coordinates, and promotion of events and workshops being managed by other organizations that tie into farm well-being. Graphic designers at UMaine's Marketing and Communication are working with us to develop our tri-fold pamphlet and information sheet (as mentioned in Item 3). These communication products are meant as a resource for farmers but also help to establish confidence with service providers about the resources available for farmer mental health. We hope to use these communication products to increase our presence at various in-person tabling events at agricultural conferences throughout the state, such as the Farmer to Farmer and the Maine Ag Trades Show. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, we plan to hopefully expand our reach and awareness within the agriculture, aquaculture and forestry industries. We are working to develop outreach plans such as in-person tabling at major farm conferences like the Ag Trades Show or the Farmer to Farmer conference, and increasing social media efforts to garner more awareness about the resources that exist for farmers, farmworkers, and land stewards in our state. We are in the process of working out details with Alex Chan, who is the mental health and behavioral specialist at the University of Maryland Extension and Maria Pippidis, who is an Extension Educator focused on Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Delaware, to adapt a Farm Stress training of theirs to be more suited for our audiences in Maine. The training is called the Culture of Farming Series. It is three parts total and is targeted towards medical, mental health providers, social workers and other service providers. Their original training is designed to increase participants' familiarity with the unique characteristics, nature, and culture of farmers, farming, and their communities. The series will build confidence in applying what you've learned to your resource building, outreach, and network development to better serve the farming population. We hope to finalize plans to have Alex and Maria come to Maine, share the training, and work through adaptation plans together to be able to hold a training of our own at a future date. Additionally, we are seeking Small Grants for Agricultural Well-being applications right now. It is possible that we will see applicants who are looking to hold trainings or workshops for agricultural community members, and in that case, we have a separate budget line for trainings and we would partner with them to make these opportunities happen. There is a group of professionals that are convening every month to network around the topic of Mental Health in Agriculture. This group includes social workers, mental health providers, farmers, and farmworkers. The hope is that in the later part of the year and beginning of 2023 that they will be working on a project for the public. They are still in the process of getting to know each other and will later decide the primary format(s) this project(s) will take. It could be an "Ag 101" for social workers to gain agricultural literacy to better understand and support farmers and farmworkers seeking counseling. This is similar to the University of Maryland's Farm Stress Management and Resources for Maryland Service Providers. It could be holding an open space for folks in agriculture to come together to talk openly about wellness, resilience, mental health, grief, or stress in agriculture. This group may get involved with the Culture of Farming training series, as the goal would be to have a mental health provider be a part of the planning and presentation team.

IMPACT: 2021/09 TO 2022/08
What was accomplished under these goals? ME FRSAN is a statewide network supporting farmers, farmworkers, and service providers with efforts to cultivate wellness and build resilience. The activities and outcomes that are underway with the FRSAN-SDA funds are increasing the capacity of organizations to directly serve farmers, reduce stress, and increase wellness, laying the groundwork for impactful change in Maine. There were four original goals of the project, outlined below. Through these goals and their prospective objectives, ME-FRSAN has provided a comprehensive and diverse approach to stress, marking a cultural shift to assist and meet the mental health needs of individuals involved in agriculture. ME-FRSAN aims to strengthen the capacity of organizations by building relationships and a service provider network focusing on farmer resilience and stress reduction. Goal 1 - Raise Awareness of Supports for Farmer Mental Health. Objective 1 - Increase awareness of resources through social media, formal and informal educational programs for farmers and service providers. Topics will include a range of supports that can support farmer mental health. ME-FRSAN developed a website for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension focused on Agricultural Wellness and Resilience. The website features resources and tips around crisis support, a hub to share 'resilience resources' for the agricultural community, and upcoming events, training or workshops focused on supporting farmer well-being. The site is also the landing page for the Maine Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network. The social media platform (instagram: @mainefarmwellness) is being used to promote awareness about farm wellness and farm stress, highlight resources including partnering organizations, and promote events or programs geared towards farmer well-being. Increased presence in farmer newsletters throughout Extension. Featuring any upcoming events or training around farm stress or farm safety, topics or tips for farm wellness, and more. Objective 2 - Utilize resources. Members of the agricultural community will access resources to address legal, financial, mental health, succession planning, and other root cause topics that result in stress, anxiety, and mental health issues. Increased outreach via the website, media, and newsletter publications will allow for farmers, farmworkers and agricultural service providers to know what resources are available for them to assist with managing their own stress well-being. Some of the resources may be through the ME-FRSAN project, but a lot of them are existing resources that should be more widely known and shared. Two physical communication products: a tri fold pamphlet geared towards farmers and farmworkers and an infographic for agricultural service providers and organizations. The tri fold will feature select crisis information, including FarmAid's farmer hotline and the 988 crisis line, legal resources, local resources in Maine, and some wellness tips for farmers. The infographic will feature the impact and connection between Cultivemos (FRSAN - Northeast) and ME-FRSAN projects. Increased collaboration with partnering organizations to host trainings that address farm stress or farm safety, or to amplify farm wellness topics in their outreach to their farm audiences. Goal 2 - Efforts to De-stigmatize Farmer Mental Health Issues Objective 1 - Utilizing social media, workshops, and one-to-one outreach, members of the agricultural community will increase their knowledge of the prevalence of farm mental health issues, common root causes, and ways to address these. A group of professionals is convening monthly to network around the topic of Mental Health in Agriculture. This group includes social workers, mental health providers, farmers, and farmworkers. The hope is that in the later part of the year and beginning of 2023 that they will be working on a project for the public around mental health in Agriculture. Goal 3 - Increase Knowledge and Skills in Areas Linked to Farmer Stress and Mental Health Objective 1 - Conduct educational training for farmers, both distance-based and in-person, that address family communications, stress reduction, crisis management, financial decision-making, legal, and other root cause topics. A sub-group of the ME-FRSAN advisory group is focused on trainings for the Maine farming community. Right now, this group is in the process of establishing what trainings are currently available to Maine farmers that address farm stress or farm safety. Objective 2 - Conduct educational training for agricultural service providers, both distance-based and in-person, that address recognizing signs of stress, de-escalating conflict, having difficult conversation, and some common legal stressors and other relevant topics. ME-FRSAN and partners organize a space for agricultural service providers to debrief PFAS related stressors. The series provided a space to debrief the conversations they were having, trainings of De-escalating Conflict, Reconnecting to Joy, and Secondary Trauma, Empathic Strain, and Professional Resilience 101. Over 100 service providers participated in this series. A cross-organizational monthly equity space continues to be organized by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association to build capacity for service providers to act on making farmer programs more equitable. Over 60 service providers have participated in this offering. Objective 3 - Conduct educational training for municipalities on the experiences of underserved farming populations such as BIPOC and Queer farmer communities. Currently, the Municipality training group is working on the issue of housing as a major barrier for marginalized farming communities. This working group is still in the planning phase of their work. Objective 4 - Support the BIPOC-led development of a professional training program for beginning and indigenous farmers. Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust is continuing to plan for a BIPOC farmer fellowship program. Goal 4 - Provide Direct Support to Farmers to Support Mental Health Objective 1 - Register vendors who can deliver direct assistance to farmers in therapy, financial analysis and management, tax resolution ad planning, succession planning, legal assistance, farm communication coaching and related topics. 6 contracts with organizations who work directly with diverse and underrepresented audiences to provide culturally-relevant mental health and stress assistance. 8 farms currently supported by coaches working directly with farmers on planning, collaboration, communication, giving and receiving feedback, and handling conflict. Objective 2 - Link farmers to service providers so they can access services and reduce their mental health stressors. 27 farmers were able to access vouchers from ME-FRSAN funding for the PFAS Farmer Wellness Fund. Most of the vouchers were used for uncontaminated food and water or for chiropractic care. 6 farmers have participated in mental health therapy vouchers through our partnership with New Approach Counseling. Over 13 individuals have utilized the Farmer Wellness Fund for services with Labor-Movement LLC around movement, health, and wellness. Those 13 individuals have primarily been farm owners providing on-farm workshops and movement assessments to their staff members. Across the workshops, 97 participants in total. The Farmer Wellness Fund has received over 280 applicants, with over 50% of the applicants being farmworkers. The top voucher that individuals are applying for is for therapy or counseling, with the second being for chiropractic work or body care.

PUBLICATIONS (not previously reported): 2021/09 TO 2022/08
No publications reported this period.