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As part of the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network, the Southern Ag Exchange Network collects and disseminates resources for the purpose of alleviating farm stress. But that process is far more than simply doing a Google search and putting the results on the website, explains Emily Ellis, SAgE’s Resources and Trainings Director.
Currently the database lists resources from about half of the states that SAgE covers, but Emily, working with partners within the SAgE network, continues the work of verifying what is submitted and soliciting new submissions. “It’s a work in progress, and states will be added as we continue to make connections in those states and gather their input. The ultimate goal is to be able to serve anyone that comes to the website and always have something available for all 13 states and the two territories, all in one accessible place instead of people having to go in search of help,” she says. “The hope is that they will get access to the resources they need before the stressor becomes too heavy. It can be preventative because it's at their fingertips.”
While the live resources database on the SAgE website is an ongoing project, the work began a couple of years ago at a regional meeting in Franklin, TN, where attendees were encouraged to think of resources that they knew of. The SAgE team had provided a list of stressors (health, mental health, financial, labor, legal, weather and disaster, and farm operations and viability) as categories for the resources, and attendees were sent home with a spreadsheet to fill with additional resources for their states.
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