The Crisis Behind the Harvest
September is Suicide Awareness Month which makes it a great time to talk about every farmer’s least favorite topic-mental health.
Farming and ranching is often romanticizing physically demanding days with the payoff getting to live a life doing what you love providing for your communities….with horses. I mean we’ve all seen the “Yellowstone Effect.” While it is definitely all of those things; what's less visible, especially to those outside agriculture, is the psychological toll it takes. Volatile markets, extreme weather, and isolation are unique stressors just to name a few; not to mention the pressure from past and future generations to keep the operation going. That leaves farmers and ranchers alone in a mental health crisis.
Well they’re not alone; they have friends and families. True. But what they also have is the stigma to power through and not talk about it. Closing the gap between these communities and the tools they need to appropriately handle their stressors is the key to helping our agriculturalists and ruralists keep their heads above water when all they want to do is drown. But the biggest question I always get is how do you reshape your priorities to include mental health when every task on your to-do list is a priority for the success of your operation? Sometimes all it takes is a $75 hammock to change your life.
The Numbers are Staggering
The National Rural Health Association statistics paint a clear picture: our rural communities are in crisis. Farmers in the United States are 3.5 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. The stressors that farmers and ranchers experience are unique from the general public. We hear often that farmers are “price takers not price makers” and that could not be more true in today’s volatile markets. They are small business owners that do not get to set the price for their product. They’re beholden to weather, markets, public input, and generational pressures.
Southern Ag Today also reports that these pressures affect men and women differently. Research says that women agriculturalists report depressive symptoms at rates up to four times higher than men while male farmers are 50% more likely to commit suicide than their counterparts in other occupations.
Substance use compounds the problem. Industry data reported by Farmer's Business Network shows that nearly 45% of alcohol related deaths in the U.S. occur in rural areas, and 74% of people working in agriculture say they've been personally affected by the opioid crisis. Coming from a small farming community of under 1,000 people it is all too common to see your family and friends battling addiction. A late night with beers in the machine shop sounds like a casual Friday night in agriculture America. But what happens when it’s every night, when it impacts your health and your family? Is it really a problem if everyone else is doing it too?
One barrier remains the largest obstacle to rural and agricultural communities moving the needle on positive mental health: stigma. Results from a study conducted by American Farm Bureau Federation shows that 61% of farmers and farmworkers see the stigma surrounding mental health care as a barrier to seeking care.
Just Keep Going…
When you get bucked off, pick yourself up and hop back on. Not only are these the words my dad told me every time my horse decided he was done with me, but it became the code I lived by no matter how bad things got. You get back on and you just keep going; because what other choice do you have? Vehicle broke down? Figure it out. Money tight? Pick up odd jobs and make more. Have too much work to do? Drink another round of caffeine and keep going (if we’re being real that’s a daily problem).
Moral of the story is that agricultural and rural people just do it. It’s not a slogan, it’s a way of life. But when you take on all those tasks, the mental load of “just figuring it out” feels like an elephant sitting on your chest.
Maybe you become frozen, shut down, or lose your temper. You don’t want to, but your self preservation consists of whatever you can do to keep going without actually addressing the problem at hand. But you just do it. You keep going. You figure it out. But at what point is it too much?
Mental health isn’t a topic that is traditionally taught or even spoke about in our communities-I didn’t even understand that was a sector of my health to be concerned with until I was in my thirties. But you can always teach an old dog new tricks.
When your to-do list is a country mile long, how do you prioritize taking time for yourself?
Not All Tools Live in the Toolbox
In many conversations about mental health with farmers and ranchers I repeatedly heard one response along the lines of “Well if I call and talk to someone would it even help because they can’t understand what I’m going through as a farmer.”
That has been realized and now there are agriculture and rural community specific resources. Mental health tools built by agriculturalists, for agriculturalists.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — Call, text, or chat 988 anytime for free, confidential crisis support, available nationwide.
AgriStress Helpline — 833-897-2474 (call or text). A crisis line staffed specifically by responders trained in agricultural culture and stressors, accredited by the American Association of Suicidology, with crisis specialists who hold the same 988 credentialed training. Available to residents of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming, with more states expected to join over time.
Farm Aid's Farmer Hotline — 1-800-FARM-AID (1-800-327-6243). Staffed Monday through Friday, connecting farmers to hotline operators who listen and point them toward relevant resources, including financial, legal, and mental health support through Farm Aid's broader Farmer Resource Network.
Avera Farm and Rural Stress Hotline — 1-800-691-4336. A free, confidential, 24/7 line serving farmers and rural residents across the Upper Midwest, staffed by mental health professionals.
SAMHSA National Helpline — A free, confidential, 24/7/365 service in English and Spanish for individuals facing mental health or substance use concerns, with referrals to local treatment and support options; text your zip code to 435748 for local help.
American Farm Bureau's Farm State of Mind — An awareness campaign with a directory of rural mental health resources available in every U.S. state and Puerto Rico, built specifically to reduce stigma and connect farm families to local support.
State and university extension programs — Many land-grant universities now run dedicated farm-stress programs (Minnesota's Farm & Rural Helpline, Colorado's AgWell, Utah State's AgWellness podcast, and similar efforts in other states), often pairing mental health referrals with financial counseling since the two are so often linked.
Planting Hope
These resources are critical to our rural communities in a crisis. But how do we break through that stigma and get farmers and ranchers talking about mental health before it gets to that point? Community. Opening up on a topic as sensitive as mental health is not easy-you have to know that the conversation is safe. So how do you talk about the topic that no one wants to talk about?
Normalize the conversation. Extension agents, veterinarians, lenders, and pastors are often the people a farmer sees regularly — training them to recognize warning signs and start a conversation can matter as much as any clinical intervention.
Pair financial and mental health support. Because so much farm stress is rooted in money, programs that combine debt counseling with counseling access tend to reach people who wouldn't otherwise seek "mental health" services.
Reduce the distance to care. Telehealth has been a genuine lifeline for rural mental health access, letting farmers get therapy without losing a full day of work to travel.
Check in on neighbors, not just family. In tight-knit rural communities, a simple, direct question, "how are you really doing?" from someone outside the immediate family can open a door that's hard to open alone.
Agriculture feeds the country, but for too long the people doing that work have carried an invisible weight largely by themselves. The statistics make clear this isn't a fringe issue, it's a public health crisis playing out on farms across America. The resources now exist to help. The work left is making sure every farmer knows they're there, and feels safe enough to use them.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988, or the AgriStress Helpline at 833-897-2474.
