U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., announces increased federal funding to provide farmers with critical support and mental health resources.  

Baldwin’s Farmers First Act, introduced with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, was included in the 2018 Farm Bill, which passed the Senate last year. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Baldwin worked to pass an amendment Nov. 1 to a Senate appropriations bill that will provide $8 million, an increase of $6 million from fiscal year 2019, for the bipartisan legislation.

“I worked across party lines to include the Farmers First Act in the farm bill, and now I’ve worked across the aisle to increase funding for it because we need to help our farmers when they are dealing with stressful times,” Baldwin says. “Our Wisconsin farmers are facing many difficult challenges, and we all need to work together to provide them the support they need, including more funding for local mental health resources.”  

Baldwin’s reform provides competitive grant funding through the USDA to state departments of agriculture, state Extension services, nonprofits and tribes to establish helplines and websites, provide suicide prevention training for farm advocates, create support groups, and reestablish the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network, known as FRSAN.

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