Farm Mental Health Bill Moves to the Senate

The Minnesota House has unanimously passed a bill to help farmers during this difficult farm economy. House Agriculture and Food Committee Chair Jeanne Poppe sponsored the bill. “The season is the reason for seeking funds today,” said Poppe. “As winter turns to spring, farmers are making plans to finance their business and may find them curtailed or derailed.” The bill provides $100,000 for the current fiscal year. This money will support statewide mental health counseling support for farm families. There is also funding for farm advocate services and farmer-lender mediation. “This gets us to the end of the fiscal year and there will be more funding coming, we hope, to work on this very, very serious issue in agriculture,” said State Representative Paul Anderson, Starbuck. The bill now goes to the Senate.