In a standard plant one could find a human resources department, a research and development department, an occupational health and safety department, an accounting department, a quality control department and a repair shop. If you are in the industry of farming these resources are scattered hither and yon, are not co-ordinated with each other, and are left to the farm family to obtain. This type of isolation from resources causes a great deal of distress. Isolation also occurs in other ways. Farm families are more and more isolated from each other as the family farm becomes the family business.
Isolation also occurs as the spirit of competition prevails over the spirit of co-operation.
This fear, often in the form of anxiety, contributes to the isolation factor and ultimately the degree of unique stress attributed to farming. Finally in the discussion of isolation, as it contributes to farm stress, we must not forget to mention the type of isolation that comes from not having access to good help for problem solving. Farm families are left more alone to solve their problems. It is this resiliency that needs to be mustered as a response to both the changes in the industry and isolation factor that we have discussed. Farm families need good information to help them to make decisions, not reactive ones, about whether to grow their farm or leave.