News

Missouri farmer approaches mental health issues by talking

A Midwestern farmer says bringing mental issues into the open has helped him help others. Jason Medows deals with farm stress by talking about it. The Cuba, Missouri cow-calf producer blends careers in farming and pharmacy, and says it is therapeutic to speak publicly about the mental stress felt by him and others.

“I wanted to be voice for them,” Medows told Brownfield Ag News, “and I also wanted to be someone they could relate to in that area.”

Medows’ podcast, Ag State of Mind, combines his medical background with his passion for agriculture to help break the stigma surrounding discussion of mental health issues in agriculture.

“When we start talking about them, and when people can become a little more vulnerable, a little more open about their struggles, it makes people, a, be aware, and b, feel like they have some solidarity with somebody,” said Medows, “some common ground.”