At the Dedication Display of Mona Lee Brock, Farm Director KC Sheperd had the chance to visit with the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Agriculture Mediation Program, Mike Mayberry.
“The history in this room today was amazing, from the standpoint that those that lived in the farm crisis of the 80s- many of them were here, and they were still very, very emotional about what their stories told of those times,” Mayberry said. “Many of them are worried that we are headed that way again.”
Today, Mayberry said, there are more resources available to help farmers facing stress.
“The Oklahoma Ag Mediation Program is just one of those that can help, but there are others that are for the farmers that are truly, truly in crisis and considering options of what they think might help, but really won’t, and we need to protect those people,” Mayberry said.
When a farmer in need calls the office at the Ag Mediation Program, Mayberry said they will connect them to the people and resources they need to help them through.
“If somebody calls our office at the ag mediation program, we are going to resource them to somebody that is truly an expert in the hotline field and mental health professionals,” Mayberry said. “We want to do that, but if it is an issue that is one that needs a little attention with a dispute or a bank loan, or something that is not working on the farm that we might be able to help with, we will jump in there with everything we have to try and help.”
Mayberry said he works hard to spread the word that the Ag Mediation Program is offered to farmers and ranchers throughout the state of Oklahoma, free of cost.
“Ag Mediation is a dispute resolution effort that doesn’t cost anything,” Mayberry said. “It is a free service to Oklahoma farmers and ranchers, and we will put everybody in a room and talk and talk, in a good way, trying to get to the solution and improve what is going on. Sometimes, people quit talking when they are in dispute. We bring them back together and ask them to let us coach them through a process that might work it out.”
Oklahoma Ag Mediation aims to keep the conversations going in a productive way, Mayberry said, so folks can keep talking and reach a solution outside of the courtroom.
“We want to be there if somebody has got a debt problem or a feud going with a neighbor,” Mayberry said. “We are seeing a lot of cases right now where it is a family farm transition, where the founders of the farm or maybe the second generation is retiring or has moved on, and now it is the kids trying to sort it out and figure out what to do. These aren’t 20-year-old kids; these are 50 and 60-year-old kids that are trying to figure out what to do with the family farm.”
To learn more about the Oklahoma Agriculture Mediation Program, Inc., click here.
