Farmscape for January 25, 2016

Farmers and ranchers, especially from eastern and western Canada, are encouraged to participate in an on-line survey that will assist in the development of new resources to help cope with stress.
A team of researchers at the Ontario Veterinary College is conducting a survey of agricultural producer stress, the results of which will be used to develop resources to help producers cope with stress and to identify priorities for further research.
Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph, says the intent is to use the perceptions, ideas and thoughts of producers to develop resources that will best serve their needs.

Clip-Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton-University of Guelph:
We plan to use statistics from the study to make a case for future research and the development of resources for producers if that's the story that they are telling.
We will certainly be using the producers' input in terms of their advice and thoughts on what resources should be developed to help producers.
There has been considerable research done in other countries around producer stress notably in Australia and in the United Kingdom, certainly around some of the extreme drought that they've experienced in Australia and some of the major disease outbreaks in the United Kingdom.
There have been small pockets of research done in Canada but I would say largely there's a lot to be learned about what our producers are facing and I don't think we have any hard statistics right now on the level of stress or degree of mental well being we see in Canadian farmers.

Dr. Jones-Bitton says the project is nearing it's targeted minimum of 1,000 participants but the majority of responses have come from Ontario so producers in the western and eastern provinces are encouraged to take part.
The survey can be accessed at www.producerwellness.ca until the end of this month.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

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