QUINCY, Ill. — Titan International Inc. is sponsoring Farm Fit Training, an online health and fitness program, to help farmers with their physical and mental health.
By sponsoring the program, Titan said it aims to shed light on the mental health crisis within the agricultural community, using Farm Fit Training health and nutrition programs as a means for helping address it.
Farm Fit Training was founded and run by Amanda Nigg, known as @FarmFitMomma on her Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok channels.
Nigg will join Titan at the National Farm Machinery Show, (NFMS) Feb. 15-18 in Louisville, Ky., to host activities and discuss programs with attendees.
"We at Titan believe being part of the agricultural community comes with a responsibility to look after the 2% of the population that feeds 100% of the world," Kim Boccardi, vice president of marketing at Titan, said.
"The statistics around on-farm mental health are staggering, and by working with FarmFitMomma, we hope to reduce the stigma of asking for help, while providing greater access to well-being programs that are otherwise hard to come by in rural communities."
Statistics show that farmer suicide rates are anywhere from two to five times higher than the general population, Titan said, pointing to studies that show proper nutrition and exercise can significantly reduce stress, anxiety and depression.
Nigg founded Farm Fit Training during a trying time in her family's lives.
In March 2020, her family home — located on her husband's fifth-generation farm in Sisseton, S.D. — was destroyed by fire. Simultaneously, the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold of the world.
Nigg said she found herself struggling, as many farmers do, and part of what kept her going through tough times was her health and fitness journey.
She began to rethink her career selling supplemental farm insurance and developed a program that could help the agricultural community.
"There's no doubt farming comes with tremendous mental burden, which our family has certainly experienced, but I'm a firm believer that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it," Nigg said.
"Since launching Farm Fit Training in November 2020, I've been incredibly blessed to witness the personal transformation — both physically and mentally — of hundreds of farmers who have enrolled. To offer these programs exclusively to the agricultural community to which I'm so closely connected — I know I've found my calling."
