5. Coalition of Agricultural Mediation Programs
This is a network of USDA certified state programs offering mediation services to the agricultural community. As of late 2019, 42 certified state programs were in operation.
From farm credit issues to disputes over participation in USDA programs, the state mediation programs demonstrate that regardless of the nature of the dispute, mediation can improve communication and repair the relationship between the parties, enable the parties to tailor solutions that work for them, and is generally faster and cheaper than traditional litigation. More information can be found at https://agriculturemediation.org
P E R S ON A L , F AM I L Y , F A RM AN D COMMU N I T Y R E S I L I E N C E
As emphasized in this guide, personal and family resilience are a big part of farm vitality. On the individual level, resilience characteristics and skills include self-compassion, hardiness, self-control, and managerial skills. Family resilience characteristics include harmony, communication skills, family time, optimism, hardiness, support networks, and flexibility. Family resilience theory advocates that belief systems, organization skills, and communication skills are key to family resilience (McCubbin et al., 1997; Patterson 2002, April, 2002 May; Rosino, 2006; Walsh 2007, 2009, 2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2013, 2015, 2016a, 2016b). Building human and social resources that assist in developing strong interpersonal interactions are key to the short and long-term functionality of the success of businesses (Danes, 2014; Danes & Lee, 2004; Hanson et al., 2019; Yang & Danes, 2015). Relationship resilience is built through reciprocal associations between and among people who live and work together, people in their communities, those who benefit from the productivity of the farm, and those making policy decisions about farming. Cooperative Extension has not developed many programs to help build these skills specifically for farm adults and families. The development of farm support networks has happened through programming efforts like field days, agriculture leadership programs, and risk management program series like Annie’ s Project. Communication has been addressed in business transition and succession planning or retirement planning programs. Family and Consumer Science offered individual and family relations programming that included parenting, aging and life span development topics. The main focus of 4-H is to provide youth an environment to build individual and social relationships in a safe place. In short, the teaching of and discussion about personal, family, and farm business resilience skills have been supplementary to other programming. Working across program areas can help to bring a more integrated approach to building resilience skills in our audiences. Work by other organizations may provide some guidance and resources. Tools are provided in three categories: 1) Assessment tools; 2) Tools for farmers and farm family audiences and 3) Tools for Professionals and Key Stakeholders.
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