Farmers face many challenges today, dairy farmers in particular. As many of you know, I worked on a dairy farm in my youth, so this conversation with Dr. Amanda Stone truly struck a chord with me.

“Unless you really go to a farm and truly talk to that person and understand their situation, there’s really no way that you could understand them.”

~Amanda Stone, Ph.D.

Dr. Amanda Stone is an Assistant Professor and Extension Dairy Specialist at Mississippi State University.  She earned her B.S. in Animal Sciences from the University of Findlay (2009) and her M.S. (2013) and PhD (2016) from the University of Kentucky.

She has co-authored 20 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 1 book chapter, and over 50 peer-reviewed abstracts and conference papers. She has received $3.9 million in grants since 2016, much of which is related to her work with farm stress and farmer mental health.

She works with a team at MSU focusing on farm stress and opioid misuse that has received funding from USDA NIFA and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association. She is a certified Mental Health First Aid instructor and works with AgriSafe as part of the Southern Farmers and Ranchers Stress Assistance Network. Her work on these teams revolves around her knowledge of the ag industry and experience with producer behavior and thinking.

Dr. Stone’s goal in all her Extension work is to improve the lives of the producers who feed, clothe, and care for each and every one of us each day.

She is a mom to two little boys and wife to a very patient husband.