U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) led a bipartisan contingent of lawmakers in supporting continued funding for the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN).
“May marks Mental Health Awareness Month, and our agriculture community needs our attention now more than ever,” Rep. Emmer said. “Prior to the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, our farmers and ranchers were already struggling with a lack of access to mental health care and increased stress from the difficulty of their work.”
And during the past year, Rep. Emmer said that farm communities faced new crises that compounded their mental health challenges when “some farmers were forced to euthanize animals, dump milk and watch as commodity prices declined across the board.”
“These factors take a toll on our farmers’ emotional well-being,” the congressman said.
Rep. Emmer and 28 colleagues reiterated that sentiment in an April 28 letter sent to subcommittee leaders on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, thanking them for providing $28 million to support farm stress programs in the fiscal year 2021 appropriations package, and urging them to fully fund FRSAN for FY 2022.
“Due to the prolonged downturn in the farm economy, many farmers are coping with even greater stress,” wrote the congressmen. “While current projections indicate a slight improvement in 2021, farmers are facing years of low farm incomes and increasing debt levels, straining balance sheets and adding to the stress farmers face every day.”
Rep. Emmer said in his statement that the “additional funding will continue offering increased mental health care services to rural America, and will begin to address the needs of our farmers, to ensure they have the access to the health care they need.”
The FRSAN was reauthorized in 2018 as part of Rep. Emmer’s Stemming the Tide of Rural Economic Stress and Suicide (STRESS) Act, which renewed FRSAN and raised awareness about rural Americans who lack access to mental health care. Language from the STRESS Act was included in the 2018 Farm Bill and since then, Rep. Emmer has been a leader in ensuring the FRSAN receives reauthorized federal funding.