New online support groups for Wisconsin farmers, producers, and families

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - Farmers across Wisconsin now have a virtual place to go for community and solace. The state’s ag department (DATCP) through the Wisconsin Farm Center, will start hosting online support groups next month.

Consider it a mental health check-in for farmers, producers, families, and even couples in the farming industry.

“Wisconsin farm center is trying to be very innovative, and thinking out of the box, and trying to find ways to help farmers, having that opportunity to just talk, to be able to get things off their chest,” said Dorothy Harms, a farmer and a part of the Farmer Angel Network.

Harms, a farmer herself, works with the Farmer Angel Network, a community and support system for farmers. She said farmers, for many reasons, need an outlet, and the Wisconsin Farm Center agrees.

“Farming in general is an isolating occupation, they don’t spend much time with other people because they’re working on their own so much... COVID has only impacted that, they now don’t have as many people coming to their farms to talk to, so we’re looking for a community where they can come and feel like it’s a safe place to talk about their struggles,” said Jayne Krull, Director of the Wisconsin Farm Center.

Farmers will need to pre-register for the sessions and once there, you can stay anonymous if you’d like to. It’s a chance for a listening ear, knowing you’re not alone in an ever changing industry that can have it’s fair share of ups and downs.

“Especially the men, kind of really shoulder that burden of ‘Am I going to be able to keep providing for my family’, and those are very real out there in the countryside,” said Harms.

Those in the industry want to remind the community how important our farmers are. They are the people who do the hard work to put food on our table, and this is a way to support them through the good times and bad times.

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