With all hands on deck during harvest season, folks may put their physical and mental health on the back burner. All the focus is directed at having a successful harvest, while all other remaining thoughts and worries are pushed to the side.

This can be a dangerous mindset, says Bill Field, a Purdue Extension safety specialist. To have a successful harvest, you first need to take care of your people. This not only includes family but also includes employees.

“You put people first, and your farm, your crop — that’s all second priority,” Field says. “I think there are times when it’s clear that the priority is not the people around us that we care about. We say we love them, but then we make them work for 14 hours a day.”

Shift your priorities

Although it is important to get your crop out of the field in a timely manner, it’s also important to keep the people behind that work rested and fueled. Field says one way to ensure this is by establishing some sort of structure.

Building a routine will help everyone operate on the same page and know what to expect each day. They won’t have extra work thrown their way or some other wrench thrown into their plans. This will ensure that your team can work efficiently.

Part of this structure includes establishing times during the week to eat dinner together with your family. Field explains that this time should be spent reconnecting, and it should not be interrupted by work or screen time.

“I’ve had farmers tell me they go two weeks without eating together,” Field says. “What is that? Why do you have to do that?” He shares that you should find at least one time each week that you can sit down to a meal with your family.

Field also suggests giving your team time to recuperate and recover. This includes getting good sleep and enough sleep, eating three meals each day and putting realistic expectations on your crops.

A few dollars

Comparing your crop with your neighbor’s crop puts you in a box that can damage your self-worth, Field says. Harvest time only multiplies those thoughts as you race to see how your crop performed. Field says that the academic world can add to that stress by pushing optimal dates for field operations.

“Why do we do that?” Field says. “Is it because we can make a few extra dollars at the end of the year, or does it make us feel more accepted in the community because we’re hardworking farmers who never sleep?”

Field says the potential for those few extra dollars is not worth the potential safety risks that come from not getting enough rest. He says extra rest can ensure a safer harvest.

This may require a mindset shift to the idea that work can always be done tomorrow. Harvest is a period of high stress for farmers, and Field shares that resting and giving yourself time to step away can spread out some of that stress.

It is not realistic to have harvest wrapped up by 5 p.m. each day, but Field says taking Sundays off and living life slowly for that one day each week could be key to keeping you healthy, sane and safe during harvest.

“There’s always something we could be doing to be successful,” Field says. “But I think we become off-base when we assume that our life has to be ‘go, go, go’ all the time.”