American Farmers Confront Mental Health Crisis

[Dahossdaboss]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...o-1980s-levels

Lots of moving parts here but shows what an issue mental health is here.

[chadk66]

this isn't a surprise I guess. they had quite a number of years of excellent commodity prices and made enormous profits. But instead of putting it away they bought new equipment at enormous prices and paid big money for land and bought a lot of it. It was a recipe for disaster. Very similar to the 80's.

[RunForTheRoses]

I recently saw this Doc about North Dakota and the emergent oil industry. It is taking place on farmland, was interesting:

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/f...untry-no-more/

YouTube

[chadk66]

Originally Posted by RunForTheRoses

I recently saw this Doc about North Dakota and the emergent oil industry. It is taking place on farmland, was interesting:

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/f...untry-no-more/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYlksP8ugoA

A good percentage of the drilling is being done on pasture land and unusable land too though. But it is impacting some people for sure. Very few people that own the land own the minerals. And they land owner can't stop the mineral exploration. And the surface owner really isn't being compensated as well as they should be. The state should have stepped in and set a price per acre for surface costs because some farmers are piss poor negotiators and none really have any leverage anyway. Granted in the overall scope of things the actual surface area the industry takes up it's rather trivial but it's still a pain in the ass for farmers in numerous ways. But we try to be good stewards and actually have a good relationship with land owners as a general rule. We do extra things for them if needed. The boom has done a lot of good things for rural people to go alone with the bad. Just one off the top of my head is bringing excellent water to every community in northwest ND. And to many rural farmers and residents that used to rely on well water. Roads are being built and maintained better although in the spring we tear the living hell out of the roads. But then just repair them. It's been a mixed bag for sure. And local governments have really been behind the eight ball over it all. The speed this all happened was insane. In regard to that documentary, that all takes place about five miles from my place. And that major player in it, Steve Mortenson the farmer is a major pain in the ass to all of us. He owns land that butts up to mine and is a heartless jackass for the most part. If you want some more info on him and his dealings I'd be glad to discuss lol

[RunForTheRoses]

Originally Posted by chadk66

A good percentage of the drilling is being done on pasture land and unusable land too though. But it is impacting some people for sure. Very few people that own the land own the minerals. And they land owner can't stop the mineral exploration. And the surface owner really isn't being compensated as well as they should be. The state should have stepped in and set a price per acre for surface costs because some farmers are piss poor negotiators and none really have any leverage anyway. Granted in the overall scope of things the actual surface area the industry takes up it's rather trivial but it's still a pain in the ass for farmers in numerous ways. But we try to be good stewards and actually have a good relationship with land owners as a general rule. We do extra things for them if needed. The boom has done a lot of good things for rural people to go alone with the bad. Just one off the top of my head is bringing excellent water to every community in northwest ND. And to many rural farmers and residents that used to rely on well water. Roads are being built and maintained better although in the spring we tear the living hell out of the roads. But then just repair them. It's been a mixed bag for sure. And local governments have really been behind the eight ball over it all. The speed this all happened was insane. In regard to that documentary, that all takes place about five miles from my place. And that major player in it, Steve Mortenson the farmer is a major pain in the ass to all of us. He owns land that butts up to mine and is a heartless jackass for the most part. If you want some more info on him and his dealings I'd be glad to discuss lol

That looked like real nice Big Sky country. And the issue does seem complicated-yes there will be a disruption to the old way of life but there will be some definite economic enhancement.

[chadk66]

Originally Posted by RunForTheRoses

That looked like real nice Big Sky country. And the issue does seem complicated-yes there will be a disruption to the old way of life but there will be some definite economic enhancement.

Nothing to date has ever happened with the refinery. Mortenson has made millions off this boom selling worthless land for 100 times what he paid for it. I don't have a problem with that at all. Here's where I do have a problem. Back in 2006 I bought twenty acres west of Williston right on Highway 2. Nothing but pasture lane across the highway to me to the south. Farm lane to the east and north of me. I live in a small development, all but mine are ten acre parcels. A couple years after I bought it Mortenson got 80 acres or so directly south of my rezoned from ag to Residential. Sold it all to a developer whom built a dozen homes or so. All specs. Most were little 900-1000 sq. ft houses. Still plenty of lots that aren't selling. Then directly east of that he got rezoned to commercial. A big shop was built right along the highway and a big man camp directly east of that. Over the hill to the south a bunch of shops were also built. All oilfield service companies.



Since those were built the county reclassified commercial. Or I should say what types of business's are considered commercial now. Under the new classification the existing business's don't qualify as today's commercial, they fall under heavy industrial. So he got it rezoned to heavy industrial because he couldn't sell any more land. I was the only one that fought it because I didn't want heavy industrial directly across the road from me. And even in the definition of heavy industrial that the county has it states not to be placed next to residential. It just amazes me nobody else cared. I now believe nobody else looked into it enough to realize they were duped. Before this even happened the amount of traffic on U.S. 2 by my place has quadrupled. They have built several load out facilities on the rail road west of me a dozen miles or so and the truck traffic is insane now. And a month before the vote on rezoning there were two major accidents at the end of my driveway killing three people. They were multi car wrecks. And a month earlier than that there was a major accident half mile east. And the county commissioners didn't even flinch and rubber stamped the rezoning. Mortenson has the commissioners by the nuts somehow.