By Frank Giles
Farming comes with a set of unique challenges that few other professions have. Among them are many uncontrollable factors that can mean the difference between a profitable year or a loss. Weather, pests and diseases, markets and finding labor are just a few of those stressors.
Photo by Frank Giles
The conversation around stress and mental health has become more pronounced since COVID-19 upended the world. It is getting more attention in agricultural circles, too, but additional work is needed to ensure growers and others in the industry recognize the importance of dealing with mental health issues. There’s plenty of stats that underscore the stress associated with farming. It is a profession that ranks near the top for per capita suicide.
Several efforts are underway to help make mental health a more prominent discussion in agriculture. Marshal Sewell and his family are among those who have taken up the cause from what started out as a simple invitation to come speak about the topic in Georgia.
Sewell, a Plant City native, has seen the toll stress in farming can take in his own family. The Sewells have grown strawberries for generations in the area. Sewell’s father Marty took his own life in 2007. Because of this, mental health is a topic Sewell has studied and pondered for much of his life. He was a senior in high school when his father committed suicide.
A crop failure during that timeframe was among the stressors that led to his death. “At the time, it was all hands on deck in the family to make ends meet and keep the farm going after the crop failure, while at the same time, dealing with the grief of losing dad,” Sewell says.
Today, Sewell works with Bayer in its vegetable seeds division. He says Bayer has been very supportive of his mental health work. He also is an alumnus of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association’s Emerging Leader Development Program and is currently enrolled in the Wedgworth Leadership Institute.
“My wife Taylor is an agronomist with Yara, so she is working in the thick of the industry with me,” he says. “We have a daughter Magnolia who will turn one year old in February. My brother Marc and mom Marie are still involved in strawberry and vegetable production in Central Florida.”
Birth of a Movement
In 2018, Hurricane Michael tore through the panhandle of Florida up into South Georgia, devastating timber, pecans and other farmland. It is ranked as the fourth strongest hurricane to hit the United States. In its wake, many growers were left dealing with a very stressful situation. Some took their lives.
Photo courtesy of Marshal Sewell
“I had some old friends from my Future Farmers of America days who knew what my family had gone through with my father and my interest in the topic,” Sewell says. “They had moved to Georgia and had gone to work for Farm Bureau up there. They reached out to me and asked if I’d come speak to a group that were dealing with the storm fallout. I had never done anything like that before but agreed to come speak and share my experience. It really snowballed from there.
“I never imagined it would lead to something like it has become. I really had studied the topic mainly just for my own education and to deal with the situation in my own way.”
That first speaking engagement in Georgia generated more invitations to speak, illustrating the need and desire to talk about mental health in farming. Sewell says he’s currently receiving several requests to speak per month. These include in-person events and virtual presentations.
“As this took off, I had people within the agricultural industry, people I work with and family telling me this was becoming something of its own, so you probably need to treat it as such,” Sewell says. “That’s when we came up with the name Mind Your Melon. I work so much with watermelon growers in my job. May is mental health awareness month and it’s when the watermelon season gets rolling with the Florida crop. So, in May 2022, we came up with the name to remind people to mind their melon and be aware of the importance of mental health.”
Sewell says his boss at Bayer was very supportive of the idea and helped co-sponsor some of the initial work to get the effort up and running. A website (mindyourmelon.org) is now online with resources for farmers to aid in mental health education. It also provides some key principles Sewell believes are important based on the research he’s done over the years. Those include food and nutrition, exercise and fitness and how to reach out to seek help.
He says it is important that people take a more proactive approach to dealing with their mental health. It has a lot to do with day-to-day maintenance rather than letting stress build up and then acting only after things take a negative turn.
“I always relate it back to taking care of our farm equipment,” he says. “If you are going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new tractor, are you going to make that investment and not do the routine maintenance? My follow up is always we are the most valuable asset on that farm, not a tractor. Why are we not doing the routine maintenance on ourselves? It is better to deal with the maintenance rather than a breakdown.”
Photo courtesy of Marshal Sewell
Starting the Conversation
For people that are feeling stress and depression associated with farming (or anything else), it is important to recognize the situation that is developing and to be open to help. That could be as simple as starting a conversation with someone in your family or a friend. That’s not something that comes easy to farmers, who are known for their toughness and independence.
There are resources available for those seeking help in the agricultural space, but Sewell says there is still work to be done tailoring programs aimed specifically for agriculture.
“My family and I are working on this (Mind Your Melon), and in a lot of ways it is uncharted territory,” he says. “But when I speak to groups about this, I talk about two things — detachment and vulnerability.
“If you are working in agriculture, whether you are an owner, manager or whatever level of the supply chain you are on, you know how fast paced the industry can be. This is especially true with perishable crops like fruits and vegetables. When we are in the thick of things, it can be hard to stop and realize we are running ourselves ragged and reaching the point of burnout. We need to be able to detach enough from that situation to understand what’s happening and that we are not prioritizing our own wellbeing or are letting important relationships with family and friends to go by the wayside.”
Sewell says when people detach enough to recognize there might be a problem, next comes vulnerability, which can be tough for farmers. Vulnerability is simply allowing oneself to accept there is a problem and being open to get help.
“Farmers often have the attitude that they need to suck it up and are the only ones that can help fix their situation,” he says. “A lot of times, we are quick to offer a helping hand to someone in need. But we are some of the last people to ever ask for help.
“To all these agricultural groups that I have spoken to, I always hear if someone knew their neighbor needed help, he or she would be the first to head over to help, but they often are the last ones to know the situation.”
A first step for those struggling with stress and depression is to identify the network of people around you who can help.
“There are good resources online, and psychologists can help. But the first step is finding that network,” Sewell says. “I had a psychologist friend refer to this once, pardon my language, as knowing your ‘oh shit’ people. When it really hits the fan, who are your ‘oh shit’ people whether it be a spouse, siblings, parents or friends that you can rely on? And why are you not turning to them? It gets back to my equipment and maintenance example. You need to do that maintenance on mental health and be willing to receive help. That starts with being open to the conversation and being willing to lean on the network around you.”
In addition to mindyourmelon.org, the American Farm Bureau has a mental health resource page.