permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

[FWD]

We appreciate your help in distributing this announcement through your PR
and farmer and rancher networks.  Farmers and ranchers across *all 50
states* are able to participate.

*How does health insurance affect farmers and ranchers? Help influence
rural health policy in upcoming survey*

Farmers and ranchers: How does health insurance affect you? Help influence
rural health policy by participating in an upcoming USDA funded survey.
Your responses will help researchers understand how health-insurance policy
affects farmers’ and ranchers’ decisions to invest, expand, and grow their
enterprises.

Selected participants received a letter about the survey in February.

If you did not receive a letter and survey but would like to participate
follow this link:  https://survey.uvm.edu/index.php/132344?lang=en

This survey is a chance for farmers and ranchers to make their voices heard
about their experiences with health insurance and how that affects both
their economic development and family’s quality of life.

"We’re interested in hearing from multi-generation, beginning, and first
generation farm and ranch families across all ages and  sectors of
agriculture. We want to understand what parts of health insurance are
working well for farmers and ranchers and what types of policy and program
modifications need to be made. Results will be shared with agriculture and
health policy makers,” said lead researcher, Shoshanah Inwood, rural
sociologist and professor at the University of Vermont. All responses will
be confidential and only summary statistics will be reported.

"We know from our prior research that farmers identify the cost of health
insurance as a key barrier to growing their farms or farming full-time,”
said Inwood. This study is a joint effort with the NORC Walsh Center for
Rural Health Policy, and the four USDA Rural Development Centers. Findings
will be used to guide the development of training materials for
professionals who work with farmers and ranchers—such as Extension
Educators, farm consultants, and tax accountants—so that they can support
farmers’ and ranchers' ability to make well-informed decisions regarding
health insurance.

The survey questions are based on interviews conducted in 2016 with smaller
groups of farmers and ranchers in the 10 states being researched. This
study is a four-year national project exploring how health insurance
options impact the farm and ranch population in the U.S. The project,
titled “Health Insurance, Rural Economic Development and Agriculture”
(HIREDnAG), is funded by a $500,000 USDA Rural Communities and Regional
Development grant. States included in the study are California, Kentucky,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Utah,
Vermont, and Washington.

Project partners include the Northeastern, North Central, Southern and
Western Regional Rural Development Centers (RRDCs); University of Vermont
Center for Rural Studies; University of Vermont Extension; Center for Rural
Affairs; University of Maryland Extension; and, the Farm Foundation.

For more information, visit the HIREDnAG website: *http://www.hirednag.net/
<http://www.hirednag.net/>*
Or contact Katlyn Morris, HIREDnAG Project Coordinator at
*katlyn.morris@uvm.edu
<katlyn.morris@uvm.edu>* or by phone at 802-656-0257 <%28802%29%20656-0257>.