Farm Bill may offer more mental-health help for farmers, who are showing more stress from extreme weather

Ali Aas graphic forAmbrook Research, from AP photo 

Extreme weather is hard on everyone, but farmers may be some of the most vulnerable to its often brutal impact, which can affect their mental health. This year's Farm Bill could bring additional funding and resources for mental-health care for farm families and workers. "Experts say they have witnessed a rise in farmers struggling with anxiety and depression as climate impacts have worsened in recent years," reports Mélissa Godin of Ambrook Research. "The farmer crisis hotline run by Farm Aid, for instance, has seen a significant increase of calls from farmers during natural disasters linked to climate change." Caitlin Arnold-Stephano, a farmer and a Farm Aid program manager, told Godin, "When climate disaster strikes, or an ongoing disaster such as drought is occurring, the toll on farmer mental health is high. Often a disaster can push a farmer over the already-thin margin or edge that existed."

The 2018 Farm Bill was the first with contained "direct funding toward farmers' mental health, by providing grants for the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network, which connects farmers, ranchers and agricultural workers with mental-health-assistance programs and resources," Godin notes. "Advocates hope that the 2023 Farm Bill will offer even more support. Bipartisan legislation, led by Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), would reauthorize the FRSAN to establish helplines, provide suicide prevention training for farm advocates and create support groups for farmers and farm workers. The bill would increase funding for the program, authorizing $15 million per year for the program for the next five years, up from $10 million allocated in the last Farm Bill."

Farmers have long faced unrecognized and untreated mental-health problems. "The rate of suicide among farmers has historically been three and a half times higher compared to the general population, according to the National Rural Health Association," Godin reports. "Many farmers, however, struggle to access mental health services, often not readily accessible in rural areas. And when services are available, they are not always tailored to farmers' needs. Traditional mental health services can be alienating to farmers, who sometimes come from communities where mental health is highly stigmatized. . . . Unless the federal government takes action to address the root causes of farmers' distress — the economic precarity, the lack of support, the increasingly unpredictable weather — many experts are concerned farmers will continue to struggle."

Greg Mruk, executive director of New York FarmNet, an organization that offers financial and emotional counseling to farmers, told Godin: "More than anything, farmers want to be given a chance to be part of the solution, a chance to figure it out. Let's not be of the 'sky is falling' mindset. We need to take a proactive approach."