As morning rolls in on Green Meadows Dairy Farm in Wyoming County, 65-year-old owner Joe Conrad gets to work on his 200-acre farm that includes 60 dairy cows.
Conrad has been farming all his life, and has experienced decades of stressful trials, including the pandemic, that now meets him in the middle of a divorce.
“We’ve been married 45 years. She said she had enough, and she up and left me,” Conrad said.
Conrad remains focused on his work, seven days a week, sunup to sun down, while also still coping with the tragic death of one of his four sons almost 25 years ago.
“God give us tear ducts to use,” he said. “You’re supposed to cry. And we’re taught and raised that men don’t cry. But by golly, here’s a man who does. And I’m standing strong, very strong, with my faith, my family and my farm.”
Conrad has also suffered stressful financial losses in milk production, as the farm produces about 600 gallons a day.
While the price he gets is higher than it’s been in a long time, he relied on recent help from the government to survive the COVID shutdown.
“That’s the only way I can say that got me and my son through staying alive,” Conrad said. “How I keep my mental health is I stay disciplined. I stay on a schedule.”
Kate Downes is with New York Farm Net inside Cornell University, which provides free financial and personal counseling for farmers and works with the Farm Bureau, which identified rural mental health as one of its top national priorities.
Recent data from Farm Net social workers out in the field shows personal and family stress from 2018 through 2021 increased 85%, while financial stress during that same time increased 31%.
“Unfortunately, stress usually isn’t caused by just one thing,” Downes said. “They’re dealing with certain weather, they’re dealing with uncertain commodity prices that fluctuate daily that they don’t get to set.”
Downes’ group received a $500,000 federal grant on top of its annual state funding to develop more programs and broaden its outreach to farmers and their service providers.
“Then the better we are, and the more we can break down that stigma of mental health,” she said.
Conrad works with New York Farm Net counselors, keeping his mental health in check so he can run a successful operation.
“I have put all of my life into it and it really makes me feel really good to know that there are people out there still willing to help us small farmers,” Conrad said.
The agency now helping Joe’s son and daughter-in-law purchase the farm and keep the family legacy alive.