Browsing by Subject "early support"

During the last years there have been concerns about farmers’ well-being at work. These concerns are caused by the weak profitability and mental load of farming and they are justified because farmers’ well-being at work and ability to work has been found to be weaker than in the other occupational groups. The farm work might sometimes be lonely, and farmers might not see their signs of exhaustion. In this case it could be helpful if organizations working in agriculture could notice the situation and advice farmers where they could get help. This kind of early support is one good way to assist farmers’ well-being at work. This study was conducted for the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution Mela in the Support the Farmer Project to help to develop an early support model. The project’s objective is to help farmers instantly and to offer early support. The underlying goal of the project is to aggregate different organizations to implement an early support model. This organization form is called Support the Farmer Organization Network. The aim of this study was to examine how to make this Organization Network functional. The study investigated visions related to the network and social support by eight organizations working in agriculture in Central Finland. The research data was collected in theme interviews and a web survey. After the interviews had been recorded and transcribed, the whole research data was analysed by using thematizing and typecasting. The theoretical framework for this study was social network theory and the research theme was approached from a network management perspective. Based on this research, the farmers’ situation raises concern and early support is considered important. Participation in the Organization Network was considered positively however, early support should not be too time consuming. To work the Support the Farmer Organization Network requires a coordinator who should activate the regional organizations to implement early support. In order for the regional organizations to commit themselves to early support, the organizations’ contact persons should participate in the networks’ events. Based on the results, the Support the Farmer Organization Network seems to have good possibilities to be functional.