Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The Western Regional Agricultural Stress Assistance Program (WRASAP) is structured to serve farmers, farm managers and agricultural workers (all groups facing different stressors and limitations to service) in the Western Region of the country. Based in Oregon and Washington, this program will provide outreach to all farmers and ag workers with specific capacity for serving the aging farmer population and the Latino farm worker community. Changes/Problems:This grant was originally awarded for a one year time periodfrom September 1, 2019 to August 31, 2020. Final signatures on the Award document occurred mid-February 2020. Washington State locked down for COVID-19 in mid-March 2020, which included closing many workplaces including WSU, delaying the execution of this project. Although work eventually continued remotely, the inability to have public gatherings initially impacted this project.Two NCE's were awarded during the course of this project to extend project date to August 31, 2022, and the project was launched virtually until public gatherings were allowed again. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?QPR training was offered online once per month throughout the reporting period, in both English and Spanish How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The evaluation portion of this project was never completed. Although WSU had an evaluation specialist assigned to the project, execution of this project was delayed due to COVID, with the actual end date falling 2 years after the originally planned end date. During this time frame, the WSU evaluation specialist assigned to the project left WSU. The role was not picked up by anyone else. Although the project partners have met the Objectives of the project as identified in the Project Proposal, a formal Project Performance Assessment was never completed as planned. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This is a final report, so there is not another reporting period. Similar work continues through the follow-on regional project, which includes 13 Western States and 4 US Territories. This work is reported underProject # WN.N41279112 Accession # 1024134.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1:Establish a diverse, regionally-representative network of member organizations OSU Presented at Dairy Association Meeting OSU Presented at ODFA Convention OSU met with Coast to Forest group about working together on promoting projects. SAIF Corp has been a great partner in advertising theQPR trainings and any Spanish material they can add to their resources. Introduction to Farm Succession Planning (https://extension.oregonstate.edu/introduction-farm-succession-planning). They have free online handbook "Getting Organized: added webpage to Regional Clearinghouse Presentation at the Protecting OR Farmworker meeting led by OHA (OR Health Authority). Saw an influx of people register for QPR trainings, especially the Spanish trainings ConductedPrivate Group trainings for USDA Farm Service Agency and American Farmland Trust, building partnering relationships with them. OSU held several networking meetings with key agricultural stakeholders in OR to brainstorm ways to share about the critical issues of suicide and behavioral health in farming and ranching communities. As this grant marked the beginning of any programming like this in OR, we knew our first efforts would need to be toward building a foundation of awareness and reaching as many sectors of agriculture as we could given the resources available to us. Several opportunities arose out of these networking meetings. The OR Dairy Farmers Association (ODFA) was excited to partner with us early on due to their experience with the tragedy of suicide in the dairy industry. They work closely with dairy farmers and their employees across the state. This connection has blossomed into opportunities to share about farm stress and suicide prevention at local association meetings, the ODFA Annual Convention, and have been very helpful in getting resources out to stakeholders around the state. We began collaborating early on with the Coast to Forest group from OSU to co-promote our respective efforts. The Coast to Forest team is through the College of Public Health at OSU and is doing work focused on providing outreach and education about behavioral health and opioid abuse in rural communities, among other things. We felt that our missions were closely aligned and through mutual promotion would reach a broader audience. We've developed contacts with the Farm Service Agency, Farm Bureau, OR Health Authority, American Farmland Trust, and Farm Credit Services. All have different communities they reach and have been good resources for partnering with ideas and promoting FRSAN outreach activities, including QPR trainings. We hired a Spanish-speaking QPR trainer to give trainings to the Hispanic community as well. Goal 2: Develop online Clearinghouse of resources In partnership with other agencies, Volunteers of America (VOA)created an easy-to-use resource directory specific tothe needs of agricultural workers. In collaboration with ioCreative, a website was developed,AgLink Northwest, an online clearinghouse of resources, aimed at reaching farmers,ranchers and agricultural workers in the Pacific Northwest who face unique stressors. Thisone friendly to use interface provided access to all resources specific to the needs of thosein the agricultural industry. It was created to help remove barriers to accessing services,byproviding an efficient way for those in the industry to get connected with resources uniqueto their concerns. Not only did we connect the website to our existing 211 database, but we were provided with a pre-set list of resources to add to our database for this project. Theresources and referrals included on the AgLink Northwest website, were moved to another site, but also remain in our Washington 211 database and will continue to be updated. Goal 3: Education/Training Six QPR training's offered in Spanish: 9/21/21, 10/28/21, 5/12/22, 6/16/22, 7/28/22, 8/25/22 Six QPR training's offered in English: 11/18/21, 1/26/22, 2/2/22, 4/6/22, 6/15/22, 8/29/22 We offered 12 QPR trainings in 2021-2022. Six in Spanish; six in English. All online, apart from the English training on January 26, 2022. We trained 129 people: 87 through our English sessions, and 42 through our Spanish sessions. The English sessions consisted of a mixture of producers and agency employees who work with ag producers. We had a few farmers and ranchers from states other than OR attend our online QPR trainings. The Spanish sessions were often attended by people who worked within the Spanish communities around the state. There were some ag producers who attended as well. Goal 4: Farm Stress and Suicide Informational Sessions presentation at Dairy Association Meeting Northwest Ag Show, Salem, OR January 12-14, 2022 Oregon AgLink Membership Meg, January 13, 2022 OSU Small Farms Conference: Virtual Booth February 18-19, 2022 In brainstorming ways to get FRSAN information out into the agricultural communities, we wanted to explore hosting a booth at a conference. We already had a good relationship with the OR Dairy Farmers Association, and they were excited about the idea. At the conference, we were also asked to give a short informational session about the FRSAN. It was a 15 minute presentation where the problem was outlined, the resources and trainings offered were shared, and there was time at the end for a few questions. Our continued presence at the conference in our booth provided the opportunity for a lot of one-on-one conversations around farm stress, mental health, and suicide prevention. We hosted a booth at the Northwest Ag Show as well. No formal presention, but thousands of people go through that show over the course of the event, so there were many opportunities for conversations, outreach, and education. We hosted a virtual booth at the virtual OSU Small Farms Conference. Attendees were provided time to "visit" the different sponsor booths, where they could tour the information we had available and dig through resources. We felt that the effort spent, especially at the in-person conferences, was well worth it. Farm stress and suicide prevention is not a topic that producers tend to actively seek out; the less formal one-on-one conversations provided opportunity to provide some informal education. Additionally, we handed out small, pocket-sized first aid kits that contained a reference card. The card listed signs of stress/depression/suicidal intent and the suicide prevention hotline. Goal 5: National Suicide Prevention Hotline Promotion 988 went live July 16, 2022 updated website updated brochure, oredered 988 promotional items from SAMHSA 100 English Wallet Cards, 50 Spanish Wallet Cards, 50 each of English message magnets, 1 poster of each design (Spanish Poster and Magnets are not available to order yet). We updated OSUFRSAN website with the new 988 number. You can view it here: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/farm-ranch-stress-assistance-network.It's very bold and obvious when you scroll down past the upcoming events section of the page. We created a FRSAN brochure that had initially contained the old national suicide prevention hotline number. We updated those and reprinted them with the new 988 number on them. We hand out a lot of information at the booths we host at Ag Shows and Conferences, so we ordered wallet cards in both English and Spanish, 988 promotional materials from SAMHSA, English message magnets highlighting the new 988 number and posters. The small first aid kits we distribute from our booth contain an informational card with signs of stress to watch for in ag producers. They also contain the Suicide Prevention hotline number. Now that the 988 number is available, we are printing new cards with the updated information and will distribute these as we refill our first aid kit stock. We give away hundreds of these kits at each event. We also have magnets at our booth that have the 988 crisis line on them.

Publications

Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:As the causes of stress can vary across farming populations, commodity groups and geographics regions, etc., Program efforts pursued outreach to a variety of target audiences. These efforts aimed to address excessive stress in agriculture, reduce stigma and point audiences to relevant resources for crisis support and referrals for upstream interventions specific to the target audiences. Partnering with organizations previously mentioned, program efforts reached audiences in Washington and Oregon and the greater US which include: Latinx farmers and farmworkers, new and beginning farmers and veteran farmers, and farmers who are aging and/or experiencing injury or disability (through partnership with the Washington State AgrAbility Project). The program also reached agriculture industry stakeholders (including WA and OR Farm Bureau), Extension Services, and service providers who interface with farmers and farmworkers. Program efforts connected with specific commodity groups via presentations at commodity workshops series and partnerships with commodity-specific groups. With audiences in Washington and Oregon, these commodity farmers include berry farmers, potato farmers, seed farmers, dairy farmers, cattlemen and wheat growers. Farmers and ag workers face unique stressors; the CDC results on deaths by suicide per capita (by occupation) reveal that these stressors can have tragic effects. Farmers, ag workers and their families will benefit from a stress assistance program tailored to the specific needs of this population. The first step is the creation of the Western Regional Agricultural Stress Assistance Program (WRASAP). Program activities are directly tied to the goals of this FRSAN as they share the following objectives: •Establish a diverse, regionally-representative network of member organizations. •Develop a clearinghouse of farmer assistance programs in the region. •Educate your region about FRSAN activities and how they can access and use existing resources and programs in their work with agricultural workers and communities under stress. WRASAP partners consist of: Washington State University Skagit County Extension, Oregon State University Extension, Volunteers of America Western Washington and Washington State Department of Health. The trusted network of WSU and OSU Extension services provides avenues for outreach which coincide with preexisting points of outreach for this otherwise hard to reach community (workshops and field days, farm trainings, etc.). Volunteers of America and WA DOH have the behavioral health expertise, relationships with networks of service providers and the institutional capacity to host crisis hotlines, link people to resources and provide trainings. These partners are well-poised to address stress management in agriculture. Accomplishments Major goals of the project Suicide rates among farmers, ranchers, agricultural managers and agricultural workers exceed the national average at alarming rates. To combat and reverse this trend requires a network of behavioral health organizations and agricultural experts to work in unison, providing education on existing resources and bringing targeted, culturally appropriate materials and trainings to the agricultural community. While issues stemming from extreme stress impact all farmers across the country, each region faces unique issues and the web of available services can vary widely. This FRSAN's program activities will be focused in Washington and Oregon State. The three programmatic goals for the FRSAN are as follows: Objective 1: Establish a diverse, regionally-representative network of member organizations. This FRSAN is based in Oregon and Washington State, an area diverse in geography, industry, population and agricultural commodities. To best serve the farmers and ag workers in these states, this FRSAN partner profile is composed of two Land Grant University Extension services as well as Volunteers of America Western Washington (VOA WW) and Washington State Department of Health (WA DOH). Both Washington State University and Oregon State University Extension services have ties to the respective diverse farming communities. Objective 2: Develop a clearinghouse of farmer assistance programs in the region. Objective 3: Educate individuals/team in your region about FRSAN activities and how they can access and use existing resources and programs in their work with agricultural workers and communities under stress. Changes/Problems:Most major challenges for this program relate to Covid-19. At the time funds became available, much of the country was reacting to Covid-19 and mandates to stay home. As events were cancelled and travel prohibited, this impacted the ability of this new program to network and provide outreach. What follows is an overview of adjustments made by goal: Goal 1: In an effort to build a network of organizations to address excessive stress in agriculture, Program aimed to host 4 strategic planning meetings at which organizations from historically underrepresented farming audiences would be invited. As Covid-19 interrupted the travel schedule since spring 2020, Program pivoted these stakeholder meetings, opting for a series of smaller 1 on 1 virtual meetings. Additionally, many of the organizations identified by the Program for stakeholder meetings and Networking were occupied with switching to virtual service delivery and responding to the constituent needs in the uncertainty of the pandemic related economic shutdown. Goal 2: Program partner, Volunteers of America Western Washington, is the lead in cataloging and publishing of the Clearinghouse of stress management resources. This deliverable took longer than expected, due in part to the confluence of the slow contract and subcontract process and need to respond to Covid-19 related community needs. Volunteers of America Western Washington operates the local 2-1-1 community resource and serves as the local operator for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. Both services experienced dramatic increase in usership to respond to Covid-19 and the impacts of the Stay Home, Stay Healthy mandate from Washington State. Goal 3: It was anticipated that Program partners would need to travel throughout the region and funds were allocated accordingly. As public health recommended travel for essential reasons only, these funds have been allocated to operations related to providing outreach, networking and education virtually (in accordance with USDA contract and management). Additional Challenges: Goal 1: The Hispanic/Latinx Behavioral Outreach Coordinator accepted another job shortly after hire. As of November 2021 a Spanish translator based at the WSU Skagit County Extension office has been selected and will be available to support translation for the program. Potential OSU Ext.partner co-optedOSUExt.'sidea regarding a subregional network collaborativeandwas uninterested in collaborating. Goal 2: Clearinghouse: Lack of material/ag websites/call line support with any Spanish translation option (ex: Farm Aid); Little web trafficto websites Goal 3: Limited number of Spanish QPR trainers with some expecting unrealistic compensation delayed of Spanish QPR trainings. QPR recruitment difficult: Limited voluntary sign-ups (especially male); Newspaper ads ineffective in recruiting attendees to trainings;No-show registrants (increased attendance when reminder email sent) QPR curriculum and trainer process outdated QPR has strict copyright regulations limiting adaptation Need to incorporate and solicit more feedback onculturally-appropriatemessaging for Hispanic/Latinx demographic Need to bridge behavioral health and agricultural stress expertise; need to find whether and which local/regional mental/behavioral health providers are well-versed in agriculture As the causes of stress can vary across farming populations, commodity groups and geographics regions, etc., Program efforts pursued outreach to a variety of target audiences. These efforts aimed to address excessive stress in agriculture, reduce stigma and point audiences to relevant resources for crisis support and referrals for upstream interventions specific to the target audiences. Partnering with organizations previously mentioned, program efforts reached audiences in Washington and Oregon and the greater US which include: Latinx farmers and farmworkers, new and beginning farmers and veteran farmers, and farmers who are aging and/or experiencing injury or disability (through partnership with the Washington State AgrAbility Project). The program also reached agriculture industry stakeholders (including WA and OR Farm Bureau), Extension Services, and service providers who interface with farmers and farmworkers. Program efforts connected with specific commodity groups via presentations at commodity workshops series and partnerships with commodity-specific groups. With audiences in Washington and Oregon, these commodity farmers include berry farmers, potato farmers, seed farmers, dairy farmers, cattlemen and wheat growers. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities for training in the 2020-2021 FY included OSU team members receiving QPR Gatekeeper training and team members completing Mental Health First Aid offered by the OSU Coast to Forest program. Additionally, Program offers QPR to every network partner or similar organization. Much of the Professional Development activities relate to the events listed in activities and include participation and presentation at workshops, conferences and seminars. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Program findings, relevant resources, trainings, events and opportunities for collaboration are communicated to communities of interest through Network meetings, partner websites, media coverage and listservs. Program was highlighted in the Western Regional Agricultural Stress Assistance Program newsletter in June 2021 and OSU Co-PI Cassie Bouska presented on program accomplishments at the WRASAP summer Quarterly Network meeting in July 2021. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Both WSU and OSU partnered with their respective state Departments of Agriculture to receive funding through the FRSAN-SDA awards in summer 2021. These funds will further the work accomplished under the FRSAN Y1 funding through a farmer counseling voucher program in WA. In OR, funds will support network development, expansion of the existing OR clearinghouse of resources, additional QPR Trainings, farm stress and suicide informational sessions, and promotion of the new 988 National Suicide Prevention Hotline. Goal 1: In the upcoming performance period, Program will continue efforts on identifying new organizations to add to the Network. Targeted focus for expanding the Network will include organizations relevant to Latinx farmers and farm workers. OSU will further integrate with Oregon AgLink and Oregon Dairy Farmer's Association, continue efforts to recruit additional organizations and explore integration with financial advisors. Goal 2: Organizations and other relevant resources identified throughout ongoing program activity will be added to the farmstress.us clearinghouse and the OSU FRSAN website. Goal 3: Program will continue to update current and new Network members on program activity, available resources (including the National Suicide Prevention hotline and 9-8-8 rollout effective July 2022) and events/trainings relevant to addressing excessive stress in agriculture. This will happen on the WSU and OSU farm stress websites, at speaking events, meetings, conferences and workshops. OSU will also explore building farm stress and suicide prevention competencies into pre-existing trainings provided by OSU Extension Service (and other entities, when possible). OSU will offeradditional English and Spanish virtual QPR trainings to Network members, groups working with farmers, ranchers, farm workers and rural communities, with multiple trainings scheduled through spring 2022:https://extension.oregonstate.edu/farm-ranch-stress-assistance-network.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: In an effort to build a network of organizations to address excessive stress in agriculture, Program aimed to host 4 strategic planning meetings, at which organizations from historically underrepresented farming audiences would be invited. As Covid-19 interrupted the travel schedule since spring 2020, Program pivoted these stakeholder meetings, opting for a series of smaller 1 on 1 meetings. The project has coordinatedwith programs targeting similar oralignedsocial/behavioral health concerns, namely the OSU Coast to Forest program.Partnerships with United General Hospital District #304 (in Skagit County, WA),OR Lines for LifeandCounty Health Departments in Oregon have provided connections and QPR trainersforQPR for Farmers and Ranchers trainings in English and Spanish.These partnershipshave leveraged existing outreach, suicide prevention trainers and available fundingandensured a holistic approach to addressing stress and suicide prevention in the agricultural population. Additionally, OSU Coos-Curry County has established partnerships with ag-specific entities including ORAgLink, OR Wheat Grower's League, OR Dairy Farmers Association,OSU Small Farms Program, OSU Co. Extension Offices and Ag Research Centers, Oregon Women of Agriculture, several county livestock associations and conservation districts. The office iscompiling a spreadsheet of QPR instructors (from partner Lines for Life)who haveexpressed interest in beinginvolved in FRSAN QPR trainingsas well asdifferentcoalitions around the stateto seek to create an ag-specific QPR/Suicide Prevention program. In conjunction with the WA DOH-funded WSU Agricultural Suicide Prevention Program, the Latinx Outreach Coordinator and another Spanish translatormadeinroads in providing behavioral health and suicide prevention resources to farmworkersin WA, particularly Whatcom and Skagit counties, in summer 2021. Partnerships were made with Familias Unidas por la Justicia, a local farmworker union in Whatcom Co., the Catholic Community Services Farmworker Center in Mt. Vernon, and local farms. Finally, participation in the expandedWRASAP network via thesecond round ofFRSANfunding(comprised of Extension personnel, health care providers, NIOSH health centers, land grant universities, state departments of agriculture and nonprofits from 13 states and four territories in the Western Region)allows for dissemination of project experienceand inspirationvia monthly all-partner meetings, quarterly network meetings, and annualAgrAbilityconferenceswhichattractagricultural service providers to farmers and farmworkers withdisabilities.Current Network listserv represents over 300 organizations. TheWRASAP networkhas conducted a baseline surveywhich identified gaps in servicesto farmers by state in the Western Region (results available at https://farmstress.us/wrasap-baseline-data-collection/; farmworker survey forthcoming) and is poised to address themthrough adaptive outreach and a small grants program.Findings from the OR baseline survey (https://farmstress.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/baseline-survey-data-OR.pdf) will inform OSU's 2021-2022 program activity. Goal 2: As of November 2021theclearinghouse websitecontracted with Volunteers of America is live (https://ag-link-nw.org). Thework done under this contract hasalso populated the farmstress.us clearinghouse funded under the second roundof FRSAN WRASAP funding(https://farmstress.us/clearinghouse/?fwp_service_areas=washington;https://farmstress.us/clearinghouse/?fwp_service_areas=oregon). WSU and OSU continue to expand the network of clearinghousepartners.OSU has identified notable network partners on itsFarm and Ranch stresswebsite:beav.es/farm-stress Additionally, existing farm stress outreach materials have been reviewed and edited, specifically Spanish materials with consideration of cultural and general relevance to Hispanic/Latinx and indigenous farmers and farmworkers. Goal 3: WSU offeredthreeQPR for Farmer and Rancher gatekeeper trainings in fall 2020. OSU has offeredfivevirtual QPR for Farmer and Rancher gatekeeper trainingsin English and one in Spanishbetween March andSeptember2021, training a total of54participants.OSU Co-PI Cassie Bouska has been trained in QPR and will facilitate the English trainings as of September 2021. A trainer from Linn County Prevention Services Department delivered an engaging Spanish language training in September 2021 and is willing to offer additional Spanish trainings for reasonable financial compensation. Participants have expressedappreciation forhow the trainings provide agricultural-specific facts/statistics and poignantinformation,and showinterest in hostingtrainingsfor their respective organizations. The project has folded in resources and presentations to pre-existing workshops and via presence at events, including the Western WA Berry Growers workshop, Western WA Potato Growers workshop, ORAgLinkannual meeting, OR Dairy Farmers Conference, and the Willamette Valley Ag Expo, educating and equipping producers and industry stakeholders to identify signs of agricultural stress and suicide and available resources. OSU has provided partners with English and Spanish First Aid kits with warning signs of suicide and available resources. Additionally, through joint presentations with the Washington StateAgrAbilityProject, WSU has reached aging, injured, and disabled farmers and addressed upstream stressors. Media coverage through local and regional radio/tv stations and publications has also provided knowledge of agricultural stress, pointed to resources and advertised QPR trainings. Outlets includeRFD-TV, ExtensionConnEXTion, Pacific Northwest Ag Network, Western Farmer-Stockman, KTIL Radio (Tillamook Today),OSU First Monday Update andOSUsocial media platforms,andthe OR Wheat Growers League (https://cdn.saffire.com/files.ashx?t=fg&rid=OWGL&f=OW_Aug21_Web.pdf) and ORAgLinknewsletters(https://aglink.org/groundwork-to-save-lives-oregon-farm-and-ranch-stress-assistance-network/). Additionally, since September 2020, the expanded WRASAP Program has held monthly meetings for FRSAN Network members and quarterly meetings for Network members, partners and other interested parties highlighting program activity updates, upcoming events, major partners and available resources. This information is also shared when Program presents at ag events and to farming or stakeholder community groups.

Publications

• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Products: Program work included identifying organizations to include in a database or "Clearinghouse" of resources addressing excessive stress in agriculture. Focus was centralized in Washington and Oregon state and includes over 300 organizations related to agriculture, behavioral health, rural health resources, USDA programs and stress assistance supports. As of November 2021 the clearinghouse website contracted with Volunteers of America is live (https://ag-link-nw.org). However, the work done under this contract populated the farmstress.us clearinghouse funded under the second round of FRSAN WRASAP funding (https://farmstress.us/clearinghouse/?fwp_service_areas=washington; https://farmstress.us/clearinghouse/?fwp_service_areas=oregon). WSU and OSU continue to expand the network of clearinghouse partners. OSU has also identified notable network partners on its Farm and Ranch stress website: beav.es/farm-stress. Additionally, these organizations and others were added to a "Network" of organizations working in agriculture, behavioral health, rural communities or otherwise poised to provide resources and referrals related to farm stress and suicide prevention. Building this Network was critical in developing meaningful partnerships for the most recent FRSAN USDA award for the Western Region. Product Type Other Description Websites: The three major program partners, (WSU, OSU and VOA WW) have created or expanded websites specific to farm stress and highlighting the Clearinghouse above. Both WSU and OSU will link to the VOA Searchable Resource Clearinghouse. WSU, live of Sept 2019 OSU, English live November 2020; Spanish live March 2021: beav.es/farm-stress/https://extension.oregonstate.edu/farm-ranch-stress-assistance-network VOA, live as of November 2021 AgLink Northwest | Resources & Support For Northwest Farmers, Families, and Communities (ag-link-nw.org) Product Type Description NACAA poster McMoran, D.W., Seymour, K., Bachtel, S., Thorstenson, S., 2020. Total Farmer Health. National Association of Agriculture Agents (NACAA). Virginia Beach, VA. https://www.nacaa.com/posters/uploads/1950.pdf; https://www.nacaa.com/posters/poster_list.php?poster_id=1950 Products: Program work included identifying organizations to include in a database or "Clearinghouse" of resources addressing excessive stress in agriculture. Focus was centralized in Washington and Oregon state and includes over 300 organizations related to agriculture, behavioral health, rural health resources, USDA programs and stress assistance supports. As of November 2021 the clearinghouse website contracted with Volunteers of America is live (https://ag-link-nw.org). However, the work done under this contract populated the farmstress.us clearinghouse funded under the second round of FRSAN WRASAP funding (https://farmstress.us/clearinghouse/?fwp_service_areas=washington; https://farmstress.us/clearinghouse/?fwp_service_areas=oregon). WSU and OSU continue to expand the network of clearinghouse partners. OSU has also identified notable network partners on its Farm and Ranch stress website: beav.es/farm-stress. Additionally, these organizations and others were added to a "Network" of organizations working in agriculture, behavioral health, rural communities or otherwise poised to provide resources and referrals related to farm stress and suicide prevention. Building this Network was critical in developing meaningful partnerships for the most recent FRSAN USDA award for the Western Region.

Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:As the causes of stress can vary across farming populations, commodity groups and geographics regions, etc., Program efforts pursued outreach to a variety of target audiences. These efforts aimed to address excessive stress in agriculture, reduce stigma and point audiences to relevant resources for crisis support and referrals for upstream interventions specific to the target audiences. Partnering with organizations like Viva Farms, Growing Veterans and WA Department of Veterans Affairs, program efforts reached audiences which include: Latinx farmers, new and beginning farmers and veteran farmers in Washington state. Program efforts reached specific commodity groups via presentations at commodity workshops series. With audiences in Western Washington, these commodity farmers include berry farmers, potato farmers and seed farmers. Coordinating efforts with the Washington Farm Bureau and local regional chapters, Program presented to Farm Bureau members across Washington state on issues of excessive stress and relevant resources. Robust efforts provided to WSU Extension personnel as they are embedded in every county throughout the state, often working directly with farmers. Efforts aimed to address excessive stress in agriculture, equip Extension staff to identify the warning signs and risk of suicide and equip them with the skills to address or offer referral for crisis assistance. Changes/Problems:All major challenges for this program relate to either the contract initiation date or Covid-19. Contracts: While the anticipated start date was September 2019, program activity was hampered as the contract with USDA and WSU was not initiated until Spring 2020. Program has applied for and received a No Cost Extension allowing for program activity to span until September 2021. This also impacted the activities related to subawards. Of particular note, the timeline for activities and deliverables have been pushed back by two or more quarters. Covid-19: At the time funds became available, much of the country was reacting to Covid-19 and mandates to stay home. As events were cancelled and travel prohibited, this impacted the ability of this new program with network and provide outreach. What follows is an overview of adjustments made by goal: Goal 1: In an effort to build a network of organizations to address excessive stress in agriculture, Program aimed to host 4 strategic planning meetings, at which, organizations from historically underrepresented farming audiences would be invited. As Covid-19 interrupted the travel schedule since spring 2020, Program pivoted these stakeholder meetings, opting for a series of smaller 1 on 1 virtual meetings. Additionally, many of the organizations identified by the Program for stakeholder meetings and Networking were occupied with switching to virtual service delivery and responding to the constituent needs in the uncertainty of the pandemic related economic shutdown. Goal 2: Program partner, Volunteers of America Western Washington, is the lead in cataloging and publishing of the Clearinghouse of stress management resources. This deliverable has taken longer than expected, due in part to the confluence of the slow contract and subcontract process and need to respond to Covid-19 related community needs. Volunteers of America Western Washington operates the local 2-1-1 community resource as well as local operators for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, both services experienced dramatic increase in usership to respond to Covid-19 and the impacts of the Stay Home, Stay Healthy mandate from Washington State. Clearinghouse deliverable is on track to be published in January 2021. Goal 3:It was anticipated that Program partners would need to travel throughout the region and allocated funds as such. As public health has recommended travel for essential reasons only, these funds will be allocated to operations related to providing outreach, networking and education virtually (in accordance with USDA contract and management). What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Opportunities for training include team members receiving QPR Gatekeeper training and team members completing the Michigan State University, Communicating with Farmers in Stressful Times Curriculum. Additionally, Program offers QPR to every network partner or similar organization. Much of the Professional Development activities relate to the events listed in activities and include participation and presentation at workshops, conferences and seminars. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Program findings, relevant resources, trainings, events and opportunities for collaboration are communicated to communities of interest through Network meetings, partner websites, media coverage and listserves. Program has participated in the regional FRSAN awardee meetings in 2019 and 2020 and plans to report findings to the ongoing Western Regional Agricultural Stress Assistance Program newsletter as it develops. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Goal 1: In the upcoming performance period, Program will continue efforts on identifying new organizations to add to Network. Targeted focus for expanding the Network will include organizations relevant to Latinx farmers and farm workers. Program has added staff expertise relevant to these communities and anticipates an increase in collaboration with such organizations and availability of Spanish resources. Goal 2: The Clearinghouse of resources will be published on the 2-1-1 website hosted by the Program partner, Volunteers of America Western Washington in January 2021. This will be linked to the existing WSU farm stress website and the OSU farm stress site which will also be published in January 2021. Organizations and other relevant resources identified throughout ongoing program activity will be added accordingly. Goal 3: Program will continue to update current and new Network members on program activity, available resources and events/trainings relevant to addressing excessive stress in agriculture. This will happen on the WSU and OSU farm stress websites, at speaking events, meetings, conferences and workshops. Program will continue to offer QPR trainings or other suicide prevention trainings to Network members, groups working with farmers, ranchers, farm workers and rural communities with specific focus on Washington and Oregon.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: In an effort to build a network of organizations to address excessive stress in agriculture, Program aimed to host 4 strategic planning meetings, at which, organizations from historically underrepresented farming audiences would be invited. As Covid-19 interrupted the travel schedule since spring 2020, Program pivoted these stakeholder meetings, opting for a series of smaller 1 on 1 meetings. Current Network includes representation from all 13 states and 4 territories in the Western Region, including NIOSH health centers, land grant universities, state departments of agriculture and nonprofits. Current Network listserve represents over 300 organizations. Goal 2: Organizations identified in network activities as well as other relevant stakeholders have been identified and collated into a clearinghouse if resources. These resources will be publicly available and searchable in January 2021 on the VOA WW website dedicated to farmers and ag workers in the Western Region. Goal 3: Includes efforts to educate team members and Network on availability of and how to access resources. Since September 2020, Program has held monthly meetings for FRSAN Network members highlighting program activity updates, upcoming events, major partners and available resources. This information is also shared when Program presents at ag events and to farming or stakeholder community groups.

Publications