CAES Newswire

 College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences UGA Cooperative Extension
Menu
Published on 12/07/18

Media invited to UGA Rural Stress Summit Oct. 10-11

By Sharon Dowdy, Merritt Melancon

The challenges facing rural America today are diverse, and the answers to rural issues won’t come from a single expert or institution.

The University of Georgia has planned its first forum on rural stress. The event, “Rural Stress: Promising Practices and Future Directions,” will be held in Atlanta Dec. 10-11, 2018, at the Crowne Plaza Atlanta-Airport.

Experts from across the nation will discuss the underlying causes of the challenges facing rural Americans — economic stagnation, opioid dependence, population migration, increasing suicide rates — and help build an interdisciplinary framework for finding solutions.

Faculty of the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES), the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences and the UGA School of Social Work are hosting the forum. The hope is to leverage the existing organizational and outreach structure of land-grant universities and the Cooperative Extension System to find solutions.

“The role of land-grant institutions has always been to connect the needs of people with the research-based resources that come from our universities,” said Sam Pardue, dean and director of the CAES. “Since before the Great Depression and the farm crisis of the 1980s — when rural communities were in trouble — land-grant universities and the Cooperative Extension System have worked hand in hand with local officials and local families to improve the communities’ prospects. That’s what we’re doing here.”

In order to develop collaborative solutions, experts in mental and physical public health, rural development, economic development, and substance abuse prevention from more than a dozen states will present and participate in roundtable discussions.

“The stresses faced by rural communities are complex and multifaceted — financial strain, lack of access to health and behavioral healthcare, social isolation, the opioid epidemic,” said Anna Scheyett, dean and director of the UGA School of Social Work. “We need an interdisciplinary approach if we are going to provide them with the support they need to face these challenges. Having the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences come together with the School of Social Work and other social sciences, in the context of a land-grant university, to tackle these issues has the potential for meaningful impact in rural communities.”

Each school or college involved in the forum has experience working in rural development. That history will better enable them to make the connections that could lead to solutions.

“Families are at the core of helping address the complexity of the stresses communities are facing,” said Linda Kirk Fox, dean of the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences. “The multidisciplinary approaches we apply in our Family and Consumer Sciences Extension program have been an integral part of Extension work at the local level for more than 100 years working with farm, rural and urban families.” 

To see the forum agenda, go to ruralstress.uga.edu/.

Sharon Dowdy is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Merritt Melancon is a public relations manager with UGA's Terry College of Business and previously served as a public relations coordinator for the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and UGA Extension.

Authors:
Sharon Dowdy
Merritt Melancon
Experts/Sources:
Samuel L. Pardue
“Rural Stress: Promising Practices and Future Directions,” an interdisciplinary roundtable on the challenges facing rural America, was held in Atlanta Dec. 10-11, 2018.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Download Image
03 20 2024 Farm Stress Summit Allisen Penn and panel 048 CAES News
2024 Farm Stress Summit provides mental health resources for Georgia farm communities 03/25/24 Jordan Powers
As Georgia’s No. 1 industry, agriculture pumps billions of dollars into the state’s economy each year. While headlines often highlight Georgia’s commodities — peanuts, blueberries, poultry and more — one aspect of agriculture is often not discussed, the farmers themselves. At the 2024 Farm Stress Summit, held at the Chattahoochee Technical College Jasper campus, a few critical points were woven throughout each of the day’s sessions: The people are the most important part of Georgia’s agricultural industry, and the state needs to come together to help farmers and promote agricultural education and awareness.  
2024 FarmStressSummit Graphic CAES News
Farm Stress Summit to address mental health challenges among Georgia farming communities 03/04/24
The prevalence of mental health challenges experienced by farm families and farming communities in Georgia is staggering. Faced with unfavorable weather, unfriendly economic conditions, labor shortages and more, farmers of all types often cope with the pressures of their profession in unhealthy ways, including considering suicide. On March 20, UGA faculty and farmers, agricultural community members and mental health stakeholders will convene at the 2024 Farm Stress Summit to look for opportunities to support Georgia’s farm families.
From forces of nature to inflation, stressors have an outsized impact on farmers and their families. CAES News
From forces of nature to inflation, stressors have an outsized impact on farmers and their families 11/16/23 Maria M. Lameiras
Farmers are tough. They work long days at physically demanding, often dangerous work and rarely get a break, much less a vacation. Months of hard work can be wiped out with a few days of bad weather, and they battle nature at every turn, from drought and floods to weeds and insects. Farmers and ranchers rank high on the list of most stressful professions and farmer suicide rates are higher than the overall population of workers.
Anna Scheyett CAES News
Breaking stigma: Mental health solutions in farming and rural communities 11/15/23 Jordan Powers
Explore the heart of rural Georgia in this episode as we discuss the intersection of social work, agriculture and mental well-being with Anna Scheyett, professor in the CAES Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication (ALEC) and former dean at the University of Georgia's School of Social Work. Anna shares how she is building more robust networks to dismantle mental health stigmas, advocate for farmers' health and mental well-being, and highlight the statewide work being done to promote resilience and build support in the communities that provide our food, fuel and fiber.
From left, Lily Baucom, executive director of the Georgia Foundation for Agriculture, Jennifer Dunn, Southwest Area health agent for UGA Extension, Glenda Grant, director of the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center at Mercer University, and Maria Bowie, summit co-chair and project and grant specialist for UGA Extension, gather before the event in Macon. CAES News
Organizations across Georgia come together to combat farm stress 03/23/23 Emily Cabrera
As the backbone of Georgia’s No. 1 industry, farmers face insurmountable pressures that are often beyond their control. Increased input costs, market variability, environmental disasters and labor shortages are just a few of the challenges. The 2023 Farm Stress Summit, held at Mercer University this week, brought leaders from around the state to learn more about the unique stressors farm families experience and strategies for building a network of support.
2023 Farm Stress Summit CAES News
Supporting farm families through the 2023 Farm Stress Summit 03/08/23 Jay Stone
The data revealing farmers’ mental health challenges is sobering to say the least. Faced with unfavorable weather, unfriendly economic conditions, labor shortages and more, farmers of all types often cope with the pressures of their profession in unhealthy ways, including considering suicide.