
Newest Materials (December 2018):
Three part video series on farm stress and decision making with Dr. Mark Stephenson of the Center for Dairy Profitability:
- Part 1: The On-Ramp to the Vicious Cycle of Chronic Farm Stress -- 12 minutes
- Part 2: How Stress Affects our Decision Making, Health, and Relationships -- 11 minutes
- Part 3: Throttling Back and Breaking the Chronic Stress Cycle: Some Practical Ideas and Tips -- 16 minutes
Chronic Stress & Farming - a Dangerous Combination - Article written by F. Holin (with John Shutske as source) at Midwest Forage Association.
Presentation - Ten Take-Home Ideas to Positively Manage Chronic Farm Stress - Presented December 2, 2018 at Wisconsin Farm Bureau Annual Meeting and YFA Conference, Wisconsin Dells, WI.
These three videos, done in cooperation with Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation (and thank you to Sarah Marketon) are short summaries of workshops done for farmers, ag service providers and others in farming/finance in the last year or so --
Fact Sheets and Educational Bulletins
Media Articles
PowerPoint Presentations & Other
Additional info is available by request.
Videos produced with WI Farm Bureau (updated September 2018)
These three videos, done in cooperation with Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation (and thank you to Sarah Marketon) are short summaries of workshops done for farmers, ag service providers and others in farming/finance in the last year or so --
- Video #1 -- Covers basics of stress. Includes everyday, acute stress and how long term stress and pressure can lead toward the viscous cycle of chronic stress) https://youtu.be/ef4cl_q91SQ
- Video #2 -- Covers the negative outcomes of unresolved, chronic stress and impacts on health (heart, stroke risk, diabetes, etc.), along with impaired decision making abilities, addiction, depression, and suicide risk. Introduces the concepts associated with control as a central part of breaking the chronic stress cycle (even finding ways to regain a partial sense of control) https://youtu.be/dPgZS8vzvwo
- 🌟Video #3 -- Contains practical suggestions for farmers, familiy members and others who provide agricultural services -- on health, nutrition, exercise, PLANNING, goal setting, working with experts/professionals, mindfulness, etc. Best used with this publication for farmers as well as the "top ten" list for agricultural service professionals.
Fact Sheets and Educational Bulletins
- 🌟Farm Stress and Decision Making During Challenging Times -- A comprehensive piece on farm stress and stress management practices related to communication, planning, education, personal health, nutrition, etc. Also contains a top-ten list of important safety-related reminders because of the connection between farm injury and stress.
- 🌟Helping Tame Farm Stress - a Top Ten List - A basic piece for helping professionals (rural leaders, ag finance, consultants, service providers, feed salespeople, vets, educators, etc.). How to help a farmer/family member regain a sense of control and hope when the stress response becomes overwhelming and incapacitates decision making.
- Case Study - The McHenry Farm: Our Brains on Stress - A combined story of about a dozen actual situations and scenarios from places like Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Indiana - A typical few days in the life of a farm family showing both the obvious acute impacts of stress, the damaging impacts of chronic stress and depression, and the outcomes on health, safety, children, communication and relationships.
Media Articles
- Stress Effects Everything - Article with Hoards Dairyman, covering impacts of stress on health and injury risk.
- 🌟Throttle Back on Stress - Commentary in Wisconsin Agriculturist magazine. compares the stress response to the fuel system on a farm tractor. Knowing "where the throttle is" can make a difference in our responses to tough times.
- Is Stress Wearing You Out? - Story by Brittany Olson in Dairy Star, on impacts of long hours, fatigue, and stress.
- Helping Tame Farm Stress - Wisconsin State Farmer newspaper. Contains information on goal-setting and planning.
- Farm Stress: Something to Fear? Or, a Call to Action? - from Wisconsin Agriculturist magazine. Talks about important work done here at UW-Madison and highlights of TED Talk by Kelly McGonigal on framing of stress and using the response as a call to act and connect with loved ones and community.
- Stress Has an Impact on Dairy Farmers - In Dairy Herd Management magazine. Similar to "Challenging Times"✪ document above.
- Power Down the Stress Cycle - by my friend Cheryl Tevis of Successful Farming.
- Pull Together in Times of Stress - by Jane Fyksen of Agri-View
- Stress Relief - a Phone Call Away
PowerPoint Presentations & Other
Additional info is available by request.
- Our Brain on Stress - Original 2017 presentation used with 15+ groups around Midwest/U.S. (has since been modified)
- 🌟From Aug 2018 - Four-State Dairy webinar presentation - PDF format.
- 2018 Extension Risk Management Education National Conference - Presentation and materials from session - Helping Mitigate Financial Stress for Farm Operators and Family Members
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