When I tell people that I like to talk to farmers about what they do, the first response is often “oh, gee, that’s such hard work.” But that’s not what farmers will tell you. They talk about their powerful connection to the land and its inhabitants. How they raised a huge pumpkin from a tiny seed or a calf into an award-winning milk-cow. There is incredible pride in what they can grow with their own hands and knowhow.

Robin Cockerline of Whippoorwill Farm in Lakeville, CT said “there is an amazing rhythm to farming, and scenes of indescribable beauty.”  For author and grower Michael Ableman, farming was just like falling in love. “Nature seduced me,” he wrote in his book, On Good Land. “When that intoxicating, blinding draw faded, a deeper relationship formed.”

Farmers enjoy what they do more than most of us.  A Gallup-Healthways poll of professions found that farmers came in fourth in terms of overall well-being.

Source: Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index

Judy Flint, who works as a personal consultant for NY Farm Net, said that farmers are “incredibly hard working.  Just really good people who love what they do, and being their own bosses even when they are working at the whim of the weather.”

Most farmers just squeak by financially, and yet they continue to love what they do.

The Pressure Can Be Overwhelming

So many things can go wrong.  The weather, a tomato blight, a tractor engine seizes up, an employee walks away at the absolute worst time, the freezer fails—and takes $10K in beef with it. The fact is that farming can be “a heartbreaking way to earn a living,” says family farmer Paul Wigsten. “It’s a horrible addiction. Probably worse than heroin.”

And sometimes you don’t see an alternative.

Robin Cockerline feels that dairy farming can be the worst. “With a dairy farm you never have the feeling that you’re getting anywhere. Once that drain starts emptying, it is hard to get it to go the other way.  It’s not unusual for a farm to be carrying $40,000 in accounts payable, due in 30 days. You’re always juggling. There used to be beautiful farms in the Northeast. All the money got drained out to pay bills. The pressure is unbelievable.”

Helping Farmers in Crisis

More than 20 years ago farmer-suicides in the Midwest went through the roof. Farm Net was established in New York in just six weeks to help farms and farmers stay healthy and profitable.  According to Ed Staehr, Executive Director of Farm Net, “over 90% of the farms we work with not only stay in business but actually expand. A great amount of what we do keeps rural communities going.”

Farm Net fields 6,000 inquiries each year from farmers, agribusiness, the Farm Bureau and Farm Service Agency, and other agencies. They have been experts at identifying signs of stress. Their 50 part-time consultants, including social worker Judy Flint, are brought in by a farmer’s hotline call, a family member, a neighbor, or a staffer at Farm Credit or the Farm Security Administration.

“Personal and financial lives” said Staehr, “are often so intertwined.” That’s why Farm Net is uniquely focused on the personal as well as financial aspects of farming. “While many questions can be answered over the phone,” he adds, “most of our work is face to face.”

Budget Cuts Endanger Lives, Livelihoods and Legacies

Imagine you’re a fourth generation farmer.  Despite your best efforts, your farm is failing. The legacy of the family farm is also a burden: You’re not just failing yourself and your family; you’re failing generations past.

Generally, farmers really don’t like to ask for help. “They are so proud and autonomous,” notes Flint. “And they believe that if only they work harder they can get it to pan out.”

When you’re under that kind of pressure, it’s ideal to have someone come in with an objective viewpoint.

But at this critical juncture Farm Net’s budget, which supports a small full-time staff and 50 part-time consultants, is being cut again.  Two years ago the budget was $600K. This year the proposal is to reduce the budget to $384K.  While the State is not the sole funding source, many grants require a match. Cut $1,000 from the Governor’s budget and the impact could be three times that amount.

What You Can Do

Digital Contact: Ask that funding be restored to Farm Net. It takes 10 seconds to complete the form.

Personal Contact: When you interact with farmers, show respect for their products and awareness of the value that they bring to our lives. Little things like “my, that’s a beautiful carrot.” Or “how in the world did you grow heirloom tomatoes? Mine have been a total disaster.” Or as one convert to grass-feed beef wrote on this site “That was the best steak I have had in my life.” We should never forget that a farmer’s hard work, ingenuity and—yes—love, puts food on the table.