{"id":377012,"date":"2022-10-04T06:00:29","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T20:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=377012"},"modified":"2022-10-04T06:00:29","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T20:00:29","slug":"farmers-find-support-at-agriculture-focused-wellness-workshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/farmers-find-support-at-agriculture-focused-wellness-workshop\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmers find support at agriculture-focused wellness workshop"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
Elvira Gisog, coordinator for the Farmer Focus project at the University of Guam, speaks at the Farmer Focus Wellness Talks event hosted by UOG Cooperative Extension & Outreach on Aug. 30 at the Farmers Cooperative Association of Guam facility in Dededo. (UOG)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Farmers from across Guam came together last Aug. 30 for a workshop focused on wellness in the agricultural community and connecting farmers with resources and each other. The workshop was the second event this year under the Farmer Focus project being carried out by Cooperative Extension & Outreach unit at the University of Guam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an eye-opening experience for the farmers in attendance to hear from each other and realize that their experiences and struggles are shared and validated,\u201d said Kuan-Ju Chen, assistant professor of agricultural economics at UOG and the project director.
\n

<\/a>
Kathrina Reyes with the Farmers Cooperative Association of Guam speaks at the Farmer Focus Wellness Talks event hosted by the University of Guam Cooperative Extension & Outreach service on Aug. 30 at the FCAG facility in Dededo. (UOG)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

The Farmer Focus project is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2013funded Western Regional Agricultural Stress Assistance Program, a national network of organizations and community members working to support the agricultural community. With funding support from WRASAP, the University of Guam will be hosting several similar events over the next several months specific to mental health, stress management, suicide prevention, financial support, and technical assistance in farming.<\/p>\n

Support and opportunities available\u00a0<\/strong
\nAttendees heard from the UOG I\u2019Pinangon Campus Suicide Prevention Program, the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center, the Family and Consumer Sciences unit of UOG Cooperative Extension & Outreach, the Farmers Cooperative Association of Guam, and the Chinese Farmers Association.\u00a0\u00a0
\n

<\/a>
Retired farmer Angelita \u201cAngie\u201d Mendiola participates in the Farmer Focus Wellness Talks workshop hosted by University of Guam Cooperative Extension & Outreach on Aug. 30 at the Farmers Cooperative Association of Guam facility in Dededo. (UOG)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a common understanding that farming in Guam can be stressful since the island is a hotspot for plant diseases and pests, and this can be overwhelming for farmers,\u201d said Elvira Gisog, UOG extension assistant and coordinator of the Farmer Focus project. \u201cIt is vital for them to know that there are services, agencies, and opportunities that can help them when the stress begins to feel unbearable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018People think farmers are very strong\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

For retired farmer Angelita \u201cAngie\u201d Mendiola, she found her first wellness workshop beneficial.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is nice to know that someone is paying attention to us because it can be easily forgotten that we do have wellness problems that stem from the theft of our crops, lack of pest control, and other factors,\u201d she said. \u201cI am so happy I was invited to the workshop because people think farmers are very strong and they don\u2019t have problems, but they do and they need help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mendiola, who has been farming since she was a little girl, said that farmer stress also comes from the intensive labor and lack of assistance in the field. Mendiola said she hopes that programs in the future will be able to provide farmers with dedicated farmer assistance for those who are no longer able to physically farm due to health-related issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOther farmers and I always talk about the possibility of having someone assist us,\u201d she said. \u201cWhile I am still planting at home, a lot of farmers my age have closed their gates because of underlying conditions, and no one is picking up where they left off.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Gisog, the Western Region Agricultural Stress Assistance Program provides farmers with a range of small funding grants through professional development, translation services, and health and wellness education activities. Similarly, I\u2019Pinangon and GBHWC also offer health and wellness services. These and additional resources will continue to be shared at upcoming Farmer Focus events.<\/p>\n

For more information on the Farmer Focus program, contact Project Director Kuan-Ju Chen at chenkj@triton.uog.edu or Project Co-Director Tim de La Cruz at delacruzt237@triton.uog.edu or follow the UOG College of Natural and Applied Sciences on Facebook and Instagram @uogcnas. (PR)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Farmers from across Guam came together last Aug. 30 for a workshop focused on wellness…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":377001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[51,445,17082],"class_list":["post-377012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-guam","tag-uog","tag-wellness-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}