NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

January 6, 2000

Workshop to Focus on Coping with Farm Stress

Coping with the production agriculture crisis will be the theme of the fifth annual Business of Family Farming program, which will be held on Saturday, Jan. 15, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Ernie French Center on the grounds of the North Dakota State University Williston Research Extension Center. The facility is located one-half mile west of Williston beyond the junction of Highway 2 and 85.

This multicounty event will focus on the current economic situation in agriculture and its effect on farm families. The workshop will provide farm families with information and resources to help in coping with the stresses associated with the crisis.

"A resource fair will be held throughout the day to help farm families in identifying organizations and agencies that can provide other resources and help with the farm crisis," says Keith Brown, an agent with the NDSU Extension Service in Divide County.

Additional program highlights include the following:

• Roger Johnson, North Dakota's ag commissioner will be on hand to open the program with a discussion on the future and the direction of agriculture in North Dakota.
• Val Farmer, clinical psychologist and rural life columnist, will make two presentations, "Learning To Deal with, or Walk Away from, the Farm Crisis" and "Farm Crisis Observations." Each session will allow time for questions, answers and interaction from the audience. Farmer has become a major voice in the area of rural psychology. His syndicated newspaper column, as well as his weekly guest appearance on the national radio call-in program "AgriTalk News Network," have provided a way for him to help today's farmers with the challenges of rural living.
• Sean Brotherson, extension family science specialist at NDSU, will talk about the heart of the farm crisis--its the effect on families--by focusing on the characteristics of how stress may show up in families and ways to cope with or prevent these problems.
• The day will end with a good laugh, courtesy of cowboy poet and humorist Rodney Nelson, who will entertain the audience with his original cowboy poetry focusing on the lighter side of rural and ranch life. Nelson is probably best known in this area for his "Up Sims Creek" column that appears in Farm & Ranch Guide.

The Business of Family Farming Program is being conducted by the NDSU Extension Service and is free to the general public. Farm families and those who work with farmers and ranchers are encouraged to consider attending the workshop, as virtually everyone knows of a friend, neighbor or relative that is being impacted by the farm crisis.

Primary sponsor of the day's program is Mercy Medical Foundation in Williston. Other sponsors helping to make this program possible include the Williston Basin Resource Conservation and Development Council, Lutheran Rural Response/Lutheran Social Services, North Dakota Farmers Union and the Adult Farm Business Management Education Program.

More information on the program is available by contacting any of the following NDSU Extension Service offices: Burke County at (701) 377-2927, Divide County at (701) 965-6501, Fort Berthold at (701) 627-3446, McKenzie at (701) 842-3451, Mountrail at (701) 628-2835, or Williams at (701) 572-1717.

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Source: Keith Brown (701) 965-6501
Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136