Network created to prevent farmer suicides; offshoots pop up elsewhere in Wisconsin; USDA funds other efforts

Logan, Wisconsin (Wikipedia map)

Farmers all over the country are hurting because of financial stress caused by the trade war, bad weather, and more. That has led to a rash of suicides among farmers, who have been the hardest hit. One of them was third-generation dairy farmer Leon Statz, who died by suicide in 2018, Dan Simmons reports for The Washington Post. It was his third attempt in a year.

His death shook his Wisconsin community of Logan, pop. 300. His close friend, Dale Meyer, said the community knew Statz was "stressed out" but didn't know how to help him. After Statz's death, Meyer and others created the Farmer Angel Network to facilitate informal group therapy with farmers. Its efforts, Simmons reports, are "aimed at helping individuals who typically work alone, worry alone and tend to be stoic until the end."

The network seems needed in Wisconsin; its 48 farm bankruptcies led the nation in 2019. But farming communities all over the nation have the same stressors. "So the Farmer Angel Network and similar offshoots are spreading into other communities in the state and bringing in outside resources, including social workers, agricultural educators, economic development consultants, pastors and more. At the same time, money is starting to flow from the federal and state governments," Simmons reports. "The U.S. Agriculture Department allocated more than $2.3 million for special initiatives that will, in part, expand emergency hotlines and support groups. Wisconsin legislators approved $200,000 in September to boost programs addressing farmers’ mental health and financial issues."