UMASH

It’s National Suicide Awareness Month and National Farm Safety Week. Megan Schossow is the outreach director with UMASH — the Upper Midwest Agricultural Health and Safety Center. UMASH is based at the University of Minnesota, but works across the Midwest. Megan shares that they’ve seen interesting trends in mental health, with similarities from the farm crisis in the 1980’s showing up again in the late 2010’s into current time frames. While exact numbers aren’t measurable, she says those involved in agriculture tend to be more stressed than the general public, with farm women and children carrying even higher levels of stress.