WI Farm Crisis & 2018 Wrap-Up

Mike Beilke, FSM Licensed Therapist

Mike Beilke's Take on the WI Farm Crisis Although I have spent the last twenty plus years as a marriage and family therapist, the first fifty years of my life were spent living on a family farm. Eventually, my spouse and I became the fourth generation to own and operate that dairy farm. Due to health and economic factors, we sold the entire farm, including all cattle and machinery. My personal passion for farming and professional experience as a family therapist combine to serve as the foundation for the comments in the remainder of this article.

REALITY:  Recently TV, radio, and the printed media have reported the difficult situation facing farm families in Wisconsin , including the devastating impacts of recent flooding .  High costs and low prices are mentioned as major factors in cattle being sold prematurely, bankruptcies being filed, and farms being sold. All of these can be verified by research and statistics. What about the mental health and status of the members of farm families? Statistics don’t work quite as well to get the full picture of the multitude of factors, the variability of those factors, and their overall impact on each family member as well as the family as a whole.  See More...

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