STRESS MANAGEMENT

By Neil Armer

Every now and then, I think, what would I do if I won the lottery? I always come up with the same answer…Buy a farm! I have a vision of a stress-free life, spending my mornings feeding cows and sunny afternoons driving an IH 806 cutting hay. Truth be told, I love my job and would probably keep doing it even if I won the lottery. One of the reasons I love my job is that I get the privilege of spending time visiting many different types of farms. The problem with that is, all I see is what I perceive as the “good life” on the farm and not the reality of the challenges of farming. Issues such as, rising operating costs, increasing government legislation, and producing a product that you have little or no control over the price you can sell it for, just to name a few. The more I thought about it I realized that farming must be one of the most stressful lifestyles there is! I used the term lifestyle instead of career or profession because it truly is a way of life you are committed to.

Believe it or not, all stress is not bad; it can help us to get things done, helps build resilience and problem-solving, and gives us the motivation to succeed. The important thing is to know when your stress levels are going from being good and useful to overwhelming. Here are some tools that can help manage your stress: The 6 R’s of Stress Management (based on work done by the Manitoba Farm and Rural Support Service).

Meet NEIL

Neil has fifteen years of Health & Safety experience spending the last five years working in agriculture. Neil attended Utah State University majoring in Political Science and has a certificate in Environmental Health & Safety Management. He has been the Health & Safety Manager for AgriHub Inc since June of 2020. When not at work Neil spends most of his time hunting and fishing with his nieces and nephews on their farm and in the surrounding mountains of Northern Utah.