Climate Stress & Grief: Building Awareness and Resilience Strategies for Ag Professionals & Producers in the West

Commodities

Practices

The rapid acceleration of climate change is bringing new
challenges to producers, not only in terms of drought and
wildfire, but also mental health and emotional well-being.
Agricultural service providers who support farmers are also
experiencing increasing demands to provide support in the wake of
more frequent extreme weather events. Research shows that people
who increase their awareness of and talk about stress and grief
related to climate change are more resilient, likely to take
action, and have a better quality of life. 

Climate Stress & Grief: Building Awareness and Resilience
Strategies for Ag Professionals & Producers in the West is a
train-the-trainer proposal developed by an interdisciplinary team
comprised of Oregon State University Extension educators,
researchers in agricultural education and behavioral health, and
a community-based mental health provider. In 2023, we piloted a
successful thirty-minute climate stress and grief module, which
was vetted by producers. This project will build a
train-the-trainer program for agricultural professionals and
producers based on the lessons learned from the pilot. Grant
funds will be used to:

• identify five farmers dealing with climate stress and
  document their stories through videos and articles
• create a 90-minute train-the-trainer program that can be
  delivered virtually or in person
• deliver 90-minute program three times on-line and at six
  conferences
• develop a guide to using the educational materials
  (powerpoints, agendas, producer videos and facilitator best
  practices)
• offer a quarterly moderated discussion group for agricultural
  professionals on climate stress and grief
• create a three-hour module on climate stress and grief for
  producers

Strong partnerships with existing train-the-trainer programs for
agricultural professionals in the West will enable us to quickly
disseminate the trainings. An expert evaluation team will analyze
the impacts of the project and allow us to adapt the materials
and approach throughout the project based on feedback from
participants.

Objective 1: By March 2027, 300 agricultural professionals will
have been trained online to provide the 30-minute and the 3-hour
curricula during their existing programming for producers.

Objective 2: By July 2027, 240 agricultural professionals will
have been trained at 6 conferences to provide the 30-minute and
3-hour module curricula.

Objective 3: By July 2027, 325 agricultural professionals will
have participated in a moderated discussion on Climate Stress and
Climate Grief.

Objective 4: By July 2027, 540 agricultural professionals will
have received permission to access training and evaluation
materials through a secure website.

Objective 5: By July 2027, each trained agricultural professional
will have provided at least one training to
producers.