Mental health app for farmers seeing success in Saskatchewan

As farmers get out into the field for harvest, it’s important to have discussions around mental health.

Megz Reynolds is the executive director of the Do More Agriculture Foundation. She said the stress and uncertainty of harvest season can greatly affect one’s mental health.

For the most part, these stressors are things farmers can’t control.

“You could be experiencing feelings of anxiety, (you’re feeling) overwhelmed (or you’re having) trouble sleeping. You might be more irritable (and) having trouble concentrating because of that stress load that you’re dealing with,” said Reynolds.

Harvest season is an extremely busy time of year for farmers.

“You’re getting less sleep,” she said. “You’re working to get the crop off in the window that you have, hoping that you’re not getting rain which then would degrade the quality of the crop and decrease the amount you’re able to sell it for. You have possible equipment breakdowns. You’re dealing with increased isolation because you’re spending less time around people or around family members.”

On top of that, Saskatchewan farmers have had to battle drought and armies of grasshoppers.

“You have people that are possibly out in the fields right now, farmers that are looking at that yield monitor, running the numbers and really worried about how this year’s going to pencil out. There’s some producers that are not in the best place right now,” she said.

She said the most important thing people can do is talk.

“During harvest you’ve got a lot of time that you’re sitting in a piece of equipment, so you can phone a friend and have a chat, reach out to someone and make sure you’re staying connected,” she said.

Reynolds helped launch AgTalk in June.

Megz Reynolds, the executive director of the Do More Ag Foundation, speaks at Canada’s Farm Show in 2023. (Eugenie Officer/Submitted)

It’s a free app for those in the agriculture community to use to connect with other farmers. It’s available for anyone 16 years and older in both English and French. The app is fully anonymous and is monitored by mental health clinicians 24/7 through a company called TogetherAll.

Reynolds said AgTalk isn’t just a place to find support. It’s also a place to share positive, uplifting messages to the farm community as well.

“We’re really encouraging individuals who may be in a good place to also sign up for AgTalk to be there, to be that support person for other people in the industry who are going through things that they might have a better understanding of,” she said.

Although AgTalk is a newer program, it’s doing really well.

Due to the anonymity the website provides, Reynolds doesn’t have the exact reasons as to why farmers are reaching out. It could be because of the difficult conditions this year or other various factors.

She said the foundation has seen great responses through other programs it provides.

“We do know that just in the past year, there’s been an increase in reaching out across all of the platforms we run,” Reynolds said. “We bring mental health literacy workshops into rural communities across Canada and at our intake period for courses that were running this year, we saw an 80 per cent increase in applications.”

She encourages everyone to find little things to take care of their mental health and recharge their battery.

“Maybe that means when the combine is warming up, that you’re walking up and down the field, getting some movement and exercise instead of sitting on social media,” she said.

“Maybe that means not going on social media if you’re seeing other people post about their great yields and that is upsetting because you’re struggling with low yields due to drought. It could be maybe shutting down at dinner time to spend some time with you’re family because that’s something that helps you feel better.”

More information about the Do More Agriculture Foundation, AgTalk and mental health resources is available here.