June 20, 2019

1. Introduce yourself! Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Himanshu Singh. I am one of the four co-founders of Do More Ag. My day job is a consultant. Along with my business partner, we work with companies on really interesting and challenging innovation projects, typically involving technology and large amounts of data.

2. What originally sparked your interest in being an advocate for mental health?

I first got exposed to agriculture as the co-founder of Farm At Hand. It's there that I really got to know producers, their challenges and the sacrifices they make year in and year out to grow food. The toll on mental health that farming takes was often overlooked or swept under the rug. While at Farm At Hand we wanted to bring some awareness to do that via a t-shirt campaign where we donated all proceed to the Farm Stress Line.

3. Why is mental health important to you?

Because mental health has such a profound impact on people's lives in so many different ways. Even if you have great mental health, we all have a friend, a neighbour, a family member, or generally someone we care about that doesn't. Mental health has an impact on us whether it's directly or indirectly.

4. What gives you the most hope for the landscape of mental health in agriculture?

The Do More Ag Foundation has only been around for a year and a bit. In that time, I can already see such a drastic change in the willingness of the industry willing to speak about it from when we first did our T-shirt campaign. If we can take such big steps in such a short time, I'm truly hopeful that one day taking care of one's mental health will be just like taking care of our physical health.

5. What does being a board member with The Do More Agriculture Foundation mean to you?

It's an opportunity to do something that I feel really makes an impact on an entire industry. You don't get opportunities like this every day. By helping to gradually change the culture around mental health, we are hopefully going to be able to have an impact on future generations.

6. If you could share one message with someone struggling, what would it be?

You're not alone. It sounds cliché and is probably really hard to convince yourself of this when you're at your lowest, but know that it's true. There are people that care about you and you matter, so find that one person you feel you can talk to.