University of Maryland Extension is excited to announce the award of a Northeast SARE Professional Development Program Grant - Farm Stress Management for Agricultural Service Providers. The grant will be used to develop and deliver a training in the area of farm stress management, mental health and educational resources available. This project will operate through June 2022.
The audience for this program will target service providers throughout Maryland that work in the agricultural industry. This includes the private sector, government and organizations. The goal of this project is to increase service providers ability to identify signs of distress, communicate with someone experiencing distress, and provide resources and tools to manage stress on the farm.
There is a diverse team of UME Educators from the program areas of Agriculture and Food Systems and Family and Consumer Science. The team is supported by the UMD Agriculture Law and Education Initiative (ALEI) and a project advisory committee.
Funding will be used for the creation of curriculum and web-based tools, conducting regional trainings, hosting webinars and marketing the program. The outcomes of this project will be increased knowledge in identifying stress, symptoms of stress, communicating with someone experiencing stress, warning signs and resources including mental health, financial and regulatory. Additionally agricultural providers will be able to share knowledge learned to other providers, farmers, and partners.
Trainings will be annouced after the first of the year. More infromation can be found at: https://go.umd.edu/farmstresspd