Ashley Rose took notice when Farm Bureau members started calling her late into the evening during the spring of 2019, one of the most devastating, rain-soaked planting seasons in recent memory.
Ashley Rose, Organization Director for Clinton, Fayette, Greene and Warren Counties.
Those calls weren’t about Farm Bureau-specific topics. “We weren’t talking about events or stuff we were doing in the summer,” said Rose, who has served as an Ohio Farm Bureau organization director for Clinton, Greene, Fayette and Warren counties for the last seven years. “It was because they really needed to connect with someone who understood the ag background and understood their stresses without being financially or relationship dependent on them.”
Rose realized that while she could be a supportive listener, she didn’t have the expertise or tools to be as effective as she wanted to be. With her supervisor’s blessing, she and others took a mental health first aid training course, which proved to be beneficial but not enough.
“We really wanted to give our members a tangible benefit that could really lead to a long lasting impact, ‘’ she said.
After researching the best, most accessible avenues for farmers to comfortably receive the help they needed, three of Rose’s four county boards chose Better Help teletherapy to offer as a benefit for their members.
“BetterHelp ended up being the best option for us. They have thousands of therapists here in Ohio that our farmers could connect with,” Rose said. “We’ve heard a lot of great feedback from folks that felt that they were really getting the tools that helped them become resilient in their day-to-day lives.”
For her efforts, Rose was awarded the 2022 Yvonne Lesicko Perseverance Prize, or Y Prize for short, for her innovative work on farmer mental health initiatives.
“Ashley very quickly realized that she needed more tools and knowledge to be able to truly help her members who trusted her with such a vulnerable conversation,” said Clinton County Farm Bureau President Christine Shanholtz in her Y Prize nomination letter for Rose. “She has inspired our Farm Bureau board to be advocates for mental health, and I am happy to know we have support for our farmers.”
Jennifer Bullock, president of Warren County Farm Bureau and John Mossbarger, then-state trustee for District 19, echoed that sentiment in their support letters for Rose’s nomination.
“Her leadership skills were truly impressive when she helped Clinton County develop innovative solutions to farmers’ mental health issues,” Mossbarger said.
As the 2022 Y Prize award winner, Rose will be given a platform to share her work and the efforts of her counties to help support farm stress and mental health efforts as part of the award’s goal of lessening the stigma surrounding mental health issues. She was presented with the award at the 104th Annual Meeting of Ohio Farm Bureau in December.
“It is such an honor to be thought of for this award, especially because Yvonne was such an incredible person in our organization,” Rose said. “Mostly I’m hoping that by bringing awareness of this award, it will really encourage people to be brave. I want people to be brave enough to go seek help and know that if they’re using mental health services, it’s not because they’re broken or they’re incapable. It is because they want to be the best that they can be.”
The Y Prize stems from the Yvonne Lesicko Memorial Fund. The fund was created in 2020 to honor Yvonne Lesicko, former vice president of public policy for Ohio Farm Bureau, to support the causes and initiatives that were important to Lesicko.
Labor has always been an issue, mainly because we are a seasonal operation. So that's a challenge finding somebody who only wants to work three months out of a year, sometimes up to six months.
I appreciate the benefit of having a strong voice in my corner. The extras that are included in membership are wonderful, but I'm a member because of the positive impact to my local and state agricultural communities.
I see the value and need to be engaged in the community I live in, to be a part of the decision-making process and to volunteer with organizations that help make our community better.
Farm Bureau involvement has taught me how to grow my professional and leadership experience outside of the workforce and how to do that in a community-centric way.
With not growing up on a farm, I’d say I was a late bloomer to agriculture. I feel so fortunate that I found the agriculture industry. There are so many opportunities for growth.
Knowing that horticulture is under the agriculture umbrella and having Farm Bureau supporting horticulture like it does the rest of ag is very important.
If it wasn't for Farm Bureau, I personally, along with many others, would not have had the opportunity to meet with our representatives face to face in Washington.
So many of the issues that OFBF and its members are advocating for are important to all Ohioans. I look at OFBF as an agricultural watchdog advocating for farmers and rural communities across Ohio.
Farm Bureau advocates for agriculture in big and small ways – from fighting for priority issues such as landowner property rights and the next farm bill, to educating members about the need to study solar leases carefully.
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I encourage you to look at all of the opportunities your Farm Bureau offers if serving your community, county Farm Bureau or Ohio agriculture is something you have a strong interest in.
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