WISCONSIN FARMER TELLS FOX NEWS SUICIDES, BANKRUPTCY RISING IN RURAL U.S. AMID CHINA TRADE WAR
BY BENJAMIN FEARNOW ON 5/16/19 AT 4:07 PM EDT
00:18
A National Farmers Union executive and active Wisconsin dairy farmer joined Midwest agricultural leaders this week in condemning President Donald Trump's ongoing trade war with China, warning of increased financial stress and suicide among farmers.
Patty Edelburg, vice president of the Washington-based NFU group, which says it represents some 200,000 U.S. farms, appeared on Fox News Thursday and detailed what she viewed as the dire state of American farming amid falling income and commodity prices, resulting in a surging number of bankruptcies, increased financial stress and suicide in the agricultural community.
“It has been insane,” Edelburg told America's Newsroom anchors Sandra Smith and Jon Scott Thursday. “We’ve had a lot of farmers—a lot more bankruptcies going on, a lot more farmer suicides. These things are highlighting many of the news stories in our local news."
Recent national data and surveys show rural mental health problems are rampant and rising among U.S. farmworkers.
A Morning Consult research poll released May 1 and backed by the American Farm Bureau Federation found 91 percent of farmers and farmworkers said financial issues are impacting their mental health. About 87 percent of those surveyed said they fear losing their farms and one-third of rural adults have personally sought mental health care.
The NFU and other farming industry groups confirmed to Newsweek they are taking more precautions and offering more resources to prevent suicides in 2019.
National Farmers Union Director of Government Relations Matt Perdue told Newsweek Thursday the group established a website, farmcrisis.nfu.org, to help family farmers and ranchers make tough decisions. As Madison's State Journal newspaper reported in January, the government-backed Wisconsin Farm Center, which helps distressed farmers, saw calls go up by 33 percent last November and December.
Wisconsin saw a record 915 suicides in 2017, which experts cautioned may be a direct result of suicides and suicidal thoughts among farmers.
Perdue acknowledged to Newsweek that farmers have historically had higher suicide rates than the general population, but the recent added financial pressures of finding a place in a competitive global marketplace have "exacerbated" lingering mental health problems in rural America.
"Farmers are in the midst of six consecutive years of falling commodity prices and depressed farm income," Perdue told Newsweek Thursday. "In that time we've definitely heard increased concern from our membership, and other organizations have as well, related to folks in their community not doing well in terms of their mental health."
more@
https://www.newsweek.com/farmers-su...ng-fox-news-china-trade-war-wisconsin-1428169
BY BENJAMIN FEARNOW ON 5/16/19 AT 4:07 PM EDT
00:18
A National Farmers Union executive and active Wisconsin dairy farmer joined Midwest agricultural leaders this week in condemning President Donald Trump's ongoing trade war with China, warning of increased financial stress and suicide among farmers.
Patty Edelburg, vice president of the Washington-based NFU group, which says it represents some 200,000 U.S. farms, appeared on Fox News Thursday and detailed what she viewed as the dire state of American farming amid falling income and commodity prices, resulting in a surging number of bankruptcies, increased financial stress and suicide in the agricultural community.
“It has been insane,” Edelburg told America's Newsroom anchors Sandra Smith and Jon Scott Thursday. “We’ve had a lot of farmers—a lot more bankruptcies going on, a lot more farmer suicides. These things are highlighting many of the news stories in our local news."
Recent national data and surveys show rural mental health problems are rampant and rising among U.S. farmworkers.
A Morning Consult research poll released May 1 and backed by the American Farm Bureau Federation found 91 percent of farmers and farmworkers said financial issues are impacting their mental health. About 87 percent of those surveyed said they fear losing their farms and one-third of rural adults have personally sought mental health care.
The NFU and other farming industry groups confirmed to Newsweek they are taking more precautions and offering more resources to prevent suicides in 2019.
National Farmers Union Director of Government Relations Matt Perdue told Newsweek Thursday the group established a website, farmcrisis.nfu.org, to help family farmers and ranchers make tough decisions. As Madison's State Journal newspaper reported in January, the government-backed Wisconsin Farm Center, which helps distressed farmers, saw calls go up by 33 percent last November and December.
Wisconsin saw a record 915 suicides in 2017, which experts cautioned may be a direct result of suicides and suicidal thoughts among farmers.
Perdue acknowledged to Newsweek that farmers have historically had higher suicide rates than the general population, but the recent added financial pressures of finding a place in a competitive global marketplace have "exacerbated" lingering mental health problems in rural America.
"Farmers are in the midst of six consecutive years of falling commodity prices and depressed farm income," Perdue told Newsweek Thursday. "In that time we've definitely heard increased concern from our membership, and other organizations have as well, related to folks in their community not doing well in terms of their mental health."
more@
https://www.newsweek.com/farmers-su...ng-fox-news-china-trade-war-wisconsin-1428169
