Drought leading to mental stress to the farmers in Minnesota

Minnesota farmers are troubled with the continual drought which is in turn leading to mental stress

These days Minnesota is witnessing lot of mental health issues as per agriculture officials. “We are seeing a lot of despair right now, a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety,” said Meg Moynihan, who works for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture with a focus on the human side of farming.

Moynihan very recently had put up a Facebook ad along with the link that is related to mental health help. Minnesota Public Radio reported that it caught lot of attention; there were approximately 2,500 clicks in 18 days.  

Minnesota commissioner of Agriculture, Thom Petersen surveyed the drought conditions in northwestern Minnesota which is affecting many farmers mental health. “I thought I was in Arizona,” Peterson said. “I just looked at this bare church with no grass and the graves, you know, looked like a ghost town. And I kept going, and the pastures were the worst I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Shauna Reitmeier who runs a behavioral health clinic named Alluma said that they have got farmers who are always worried as to will they be the one unable to preserve the farm. Reitmeier thinks that people misunderstood mental health with stress and the revelation of telemedicine has made easier for people to openly seek for help and understand what they can control and what they cannot.