About the Project

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About the Project: 

The Farmer Cultural Awareness Project is part of a larger state-wide initiative called Raising Hope (see below). For this project, we gathered the experiences of farmers in the 10-county BRADD region and developed an awareness campaign for the non-farming public. Based on previous research by Dr. Susan Jones and her colleagues, the lack of appreciation and understanding from the non-farming public is a major source of stress for farmers.

For the project, oral history interviews with farmers were conducted and recorded. Farmers shared their life experiences and what they want the non-farming public to know. Snippets from these interviews are found on this site. 

The interviews were conducted by Folk Studies Professor Ann Ferrell and graduate student Ginny Willoughby beginning in August 2021. 

 

Raising Hope: 

Raising Hope promotes the physical/mental health and safety of Kentucky’s (KY’s) farmers and farm families through translational research, prevention/intervention, and community education/outreach informed by key stakeholders with the common goal to enhance quality of life for our farmers and farm families. Learn more about the Raising Hope initiative by visiting their website. 

 

Funding: 

The Kentucky General Assembly through Phase 1 Tobacco Settlement funds appropriated $500,00 to the Rural Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Pilot Program for fiscal years 21 and 22. The Farmer Cultural Awareness project is supported with a portion of these funds.