Building a sustainable agriculture strategy is an opportunity to include mental health in the conversation, says the executive director of the Do More Agriculture Foundation.
“Mental health affects everything… or it can be affected by so many things,” said Megz Reynolds.
The foundation is a charity that focuses on mental health in the agriculture industry.
The strategy working group aims to define what sustainability means in agriculture, Reynolds said. This is an opportunity to be global leaders by including mental health in that discussion.
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Mental health has been part of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s purview before, she added.
In 2018, then federal ag minister Lawrence MacAulay mandated Farm Credit Canada to support organizations to build mental health awareness and supports for farmers, a 2018 AAFC news release says.
The federal department also announced it would work with 4-H Canada to develop a national mental health program for youth and it partially funded Ontario’s Farmer Wellness Initiative through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
Maybe something like that could be done nationally, Reynolds said.
AAFC could work with groups like Do More Ag to bring the provinces to the table to develop national mental health supports for farmers instead of the current “fractured” provincial support, she said.
If looking at sustainability at a holistic level, farmer mental health is a key ingredient, said Marcel Hacault, chair of the Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program, a privately funded initiative that provides counselling for farmers and farm families.
If the farmer or farm family isn’t in a good place, everything from animal care to family relationships can suffer, he said.
