The Rural Voice, 1981-12, Page 13Psychological effects
of financial stress
by Gisele Ireland
A report on the psycholgical effects of
financial stress on farmers was presented
to the OFA's Emergency Task Force last
month. It was compiled from some 100
cases in the counties of Grey and Bruce.
Included in this report was a document
from the Chesley Medical Clinic stating
that stress related illnesses and alcohol
related illnesses were increasing
measurably.
This report, given by the Concerned
Farm Wives, pointed out several areas
where financial stress was eroding the
family structure and altering the
psychological makeup of those farmers
caught in the squeeze.
The report dealt with frustration. The
feelings of frustration that spring up when
farmers are given the responsibility of
running their farms at a break-even level
at least but no control over the events that
make this imposbile. Farmers have no
authority over interest rates, trade
agreements or commodity prices unless in
a supply/management situation.
Frustration is also evident in farmers
who have gone under feeling that proper
financial counselling could have saved
some of them. The Provincial Review
Board set up by the province and ag
minister Lorne Henderson was totally
inadequate. When this board was called
upon to intervene, the head push was
either on holidays, or they couldn't find the
farmer's file or original request letter or in
one instance a farmer was told there had
been problems in the red meat sector
before and they had been overcome and
would be overcome in the future. The
frustration felt by farmers in these cases
was extreme.
Farmers felt doubt. Doubt in them-
selves and doubt for the future. Is it the
consumer's right to expect cheap food no
matter what the cost to the producer?
Farmers have accepted a lower rung on
the ladder of social and financial success
for so long that they are conditioned to
working without making a profit.
There are marked increases in the
feelings of hostility. The agri-business is
now saying; ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
Some farmers are to the point where they
care little who goes hungry, as long as
they aren't the losers anymore in the
production cycle. Farmers are now out in
the media and government demanding
concessions they feel are long overdue.
Hostility is evident in their approach.
They are advised by supposed experts that
know little of agriculture and what kind of
management is necessary to run a farm.
Farmers are especially hostile to having
their personal and business posessions
scrutinized. Tractors with cabs, vehicles
that are necessary to run the farms and
even their homes. Farmers feel that
society has placed an unfair burden on
their shoulders to expect them to exist on
the edge of poverty to provide food for the
masses. The hardest thing to explain is the
fact that we are no longer farming the way
our grandfathers did.
Farm women are annoyed to find
surprise shown when their homes are
classed as comparable to urban homes in
appearance and convenience. A farm wife
holds down a full-time job on the farm plus
she is a mother and housewife. The
amount of produce that leaves the farm
gate leaves no time to haul wood to the old
cook stove and extract water from a hand
pump.
Farmers feel discriminated against.
The information to make their jobs easier
and the facts that are necessary to run a
viable operation is hard to come by.
Rural people do not always have access to
colleges and courses that would keep them
updated in their industry. Farmers realize
that they are to blame for the situation too.
The schools and facilities are there. All
that is necessary is the materials and the
instructors.
Farmers are now out there scrambling
to get information about their situations
that they should have had in the first
place. This means working by day and
attending meetings at night. This natural-
ly disrupts the basic family relationships.
Chores are rushed, meals are rushed and
family time is non-existent. Arguments
are springing up in the family core with
husbands and wives and fathers and sons
each blaming the other for decisions that
are now irreversible.
Farmers are cornered and are fighting
back. They are using any method at their
disposal and sometimes these are illegal.
Under normal circumstances no farmer
would hide machinery that the bank has a
lien on. No farmer would ship livestock in
someone else's name to obtain necessary
revenue. No farmer would transfer assets
to a willing friend to save some part of his
operation. This is termed desperation.
Often these farmers are third and fourth
generation on the farm and stand to end
up with nothing but their clothes and car
and family. If you had spent the best years
of your life building a future and stood to
lose everything through reasons that were
beyond your control the desperation
would be just as great. A farmer loses his
job, his home and his pension plan in one
fell swoop.
In some cases it is even impossible to
provide the necessities of life for families.
The bank has closed credit channels. The
commodity cheque goes straight to the
lending institution and the farmer is
supposed to survive any way he can find.
This is on top of providing a work force to
keep the farm operation going. This is
tenant labour for lending institutions
without any guarantee that tomorrow will
be any better.
The safety of the farm family is also
threatened. Repairs are costly. Often
when a new part of called for and not
affordable, a patch job of repairs is done.
A patch weld where a new part is
necessary makes the machine unsafe.
Couple this with an operator who is
preoccupied with his financial problems
and you have multiplied the safety hazard.
Farmers are finding that they can't afford
hired help in the peak seasons and they
put children on equipment that they are
not physically capable of handling. The
crop gets off but at what price if an
accident were to occur?
Wives are also driving and operating
equipment that they feel unsure of and
have no idea of the capability and power of
the machine. This is increasing the
accident rate in an industry that already
has the reputation of high accident
involvment.
These feelings of frustration, hostility
and depression have caused stress related
illness shown by the Chesley Medical
Clinic. Chest pains, digestive problems,
problems in sleeping and headaches are
common. Alcohol-related illnesses are
also increasing as the farming populace is
looking for a blotter to wipe out the
day-to-day problems that have made
farming a nightmare for some.
THE RURAL VOICE/DECEMBER 1981 PG. 11