Harvesting Hope

Thanks to Kathy Fany's efforts, hundreds of Iowa farmers receive harvest goodie bags that include connections to local mental health resources.

- Lisa Foust Prater

Cards included in the goodie bags encourage farmers to talk to someone, if needed.

Kathy Fahy was raised on the family farm near Bancroft, in north-central Iowa. “Like most farm kids, I had to do chores growing up,” she said. “Also like a lot of farm kids, I was ready to leave once I went to college but found myself back here years later.”

Fahy was running a marketing consulting company when her father was diagnosed with ALS, often called Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2016. “My youngest brother and I decided we wanted to keep the farm in our family, so we’ve been actively farming together since Dad was diagnosed,” she said. “We have a 10-year age difference, so when we were growing up, he was my pesky little brother. It’s nice that we work together and have that relationship now.”

When she’s not farming corn and soybeans, Fahy does consulting and farmland management. She also volunteers with nonprofit service organization Rotary International, working on numerous local, regional, and global projects.

Connecting Farmers With Resources

Last year, Fahy worked with Rotary to kick off a new project in nearby Dickinson County, where her local club is located, aimed at connecting farmers with mental health resources.

“I think it’s important to try to find ways to let people know there is help out there. There are people that are willing to talk, and it’s OK to share your feelings,” she said.