Southern Farmer & Rancher Stress Assistance Network

During fiscal year 2020-2021, the Southeast Center was a partner with AgriSafe on the South Region Farmer and Rancher Stress Assistance Network (S-FRSAN) grant funded by the USDA/NIFA.
The purpose of the S-FRSAN grant was to partner with the lead organization AgriSafe along with seven (7) key partner organizations in the Southern Region (defined by USDA) to develop a network to share resources and strategies to address the pressing needs of farmers and farm families experiencing high levels of stress due to injury and fatalities (including self-harm), health, economic and social circumstances.

1. To analyze the National Violent Death Surveillance Data for rates of suicide among farmers by region of the country and link these data to the 2017 and 2012 Agricultural Census data by farm size, crop data, location and other agricultural factors to provide a needs assessment of the risk of suicide for farmers and farm families.
2. To convene a task force of agricultural health and safety professionals to leverage resources in KY and contiguous states and to disseminate information through the Center’s Outreach and CE programs.
3. To support training for a broadly representative group of people in the agricultural community (farm family members, farm credit organizations, commodity groups, extension, healthcare, mental health providers, rural health nurses, ministerium) to attend suicide prevention training (such as the QPR [Question, Persuade, Refer]  or ASIST trainings for first responders).