OKEANA, Ohio — In the wake of historic droughts, and hurricane-fueled storms affecting our region, farmers are struggling to make ends meet.
“It’s definitely a stressful industry to be a part of. It doesn't really care about your feelings,” said Emily Mullen, the owner and operator of Mullen Dairy & Creamery.
Mullen is a 4th generation dairy farmer, who came back to her roots after college.
“I decided I wanted to come home and farm,” said Mullen.
But running a dairy farm, or any farm, is no easy task.
“We grow all of the food that our cows eat as well.”
The stresses of farming are high according to Mulle, and are often out of her control.
“When you lose an animal to a ridiculous circumstance that you weren’t able to control, or a crop is ruined because a hurricane comes through,” said Mullen. “Those are things as farmers, even as we do everything right, quite frankly we can get it all wrong.”
Their biggest struggle right now?
“Just the economy in general, cause I know a lot of the producers I have talked to, the big issue is just the money they’re getting for their crops,” said Adam Tyler, the AG & Natural Resources Educator for Purdue University Extension.
Mullen says the effects of Hurricane Helene we saw in Ohio flattened much of her corn crop, causing her to lose money during a time when some crops aren’t producing much money, to begin with.
“There are people I spoke to that said before they even pulled their combine out of the garage this year to go even harvest, they were already losing money on some of their crops,” said Tyler.
But these struggles aren’t only affecting farmers, in fact, it could affect you at the grocery store.
“If we don’t have a strong farm economy and we don’t have the farmers there and we lose farmers, eventually what is gonna happen is it could very well trickle down to the consumer,” said Tyler.
That could mean higher grocery prices or less variety of options. But that’s not the only impact these struggles have.
“Those multi-generational farms, they don’t wanna be the one to lose the farm,” said Rachel Dillhoff, who is on the farm stress team at Purdue University’s extension.
According to Purdue University Extension farm stress team, farmers are 35 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. The solution is to simply talk about it, and that’s what the farm stress team strives to do.
“Just normalizing it and knowing that seeking help doesn’t mean you’re weak,” said Dillhoff.
And there is a way those who aren’t farmers can help, it’s as simple as buying local products.
“I personally wouldn’t have been able to come back home and carry on my family’s legacy if it weren’t for my neighbors choosing to invest in my products,” said Mullen.
If you are a farmer who needs mental health resources or know a farmer who may need help you can click here.
