FarmTownStrong website, created by Farm Bureau and National Farmers Union, aims to fight rural opioid addiction

The American Farm Bureau Federation and its sometime adversary, the National Farmers Union, have created campaign to provide rural communities with resources to address opioid addiction, according to a Farm Bureau podcast.

The campaign is anchored with a website, FarmTownStrong.org, with confidential hotline numbers, links to local treatment programs and centers, and physicians authorized to treat addiction. There are also addiction prevention resources and information on how and where to dispose of medication.

Though opioids affect communities of all sizes, resources are often harder to access in rural areas. "Three in four farmers are, or have been directly impacted by opioid abuse, and three in four say it would be easy for someone in their community to access prescription pain killers illegally," Farm Bureau Director of Strategic Communications Ray Atkinson said.