00:00Farming and construction work make up roughly 6% of the workforce in Minnesota.
00:04Suicide rates for both occupations, however, are staggering.
00:07Our Ari Bergeron has more on the effort to prevent them.
00:09According to the Department of Agriculture, farmers are three and a half times more likely to die by suicide than
00:14the general population.
00:15Now consider it's been a tumultuous year for them due to drought and tariffs, and there's concern for their well
00:20-being.
00:20Tom Peterson, Commissioner of the MDA.
00:22With support from the legislature, we have three mental health counselors.
00:26We have 10 farm advocates that are both free and confidential to farmers.
00:30And I can tell you that those advocates and those mental health counselors are busy right now.
00:35You know, you're dealing with so much right now.
00:37You're dealing with changing prices, you know, world economy.
00:40And, you know, and then the pressure of, you know, leading a farm is tough.
00:44Stress is, you know, is there.
00:47Farming can be very isolating and it's easy to, you know, kind of bottle up.
00:53The rate among construction workers is second only to farmers due to substance use that can start from an injury
00:58suffered on the job.
00:59John Burkaw with the Finishing Trades Institute of the Upper Midwest says their campus is prepared to address the issue.
01:05We are really proud of the fact that we are the only apprenticeship in Minnesota, it may be beyond, that
01:11has licensed behavioral health clinicians on campus every day we have a student.
01:15Ari Bergeron, Newstalk 830 WCCO.
01:17Here who is a terrain?
01:18Him gift.
