Looking to support farmers who suffer from mental health issues and also to raise awareness of the situation, the Central Alberta Agriculture Society (CAAS) hosted an event over the weekend (June 23) called ‘Mind the Farm’, at their show barn in Lacombe.

According to Director of CAAS, Leanne Zukowski, farmers often suffer from high amounts of anxiety and stress and she felt this issue must be brought to light.

"It's the 'suck it up and get over it' attitude that farmers have that we need to get rid of... we need to realize that for some people it's not that easy."

Zukowski says a blog post was written by a fellow farmer and founder of the Do More Agriculture Foundation, Leslie Kelly, which was an attempt to shed light on the realities of being a farmer, and that her husband had to use mental health lines for support.

The message struck a chord with Zukowski as she is also a farmer, and she said the Mind the Farm event was created to raise money to support the Do More Agriculture Foundation.

The event that day had numerous events taking place like, a live band (Radio Active) playing the entire day, a large silent auction, horse races, a cash bar, and food trucks selling hot, tasty food for the duration of the event.

Though Zukowski is not sure when the next event will be, she says that Do More Agriculture has multiple engagements lined up for the remainder of the year.

For more information, you can click on their website here.