Farm Stress

Farmers are tough. They work long days at physically demanding, often dangerous work and rarely get a break, much less a vacation. Months of hard work can be wiped out with a few days of bad weather, and they battle nature at every turn, from drought and floods to weeds and insects.

Farmers and ranchers rank high on the list of most stressful professions and farmer suicide rates are higher than the overall population of workers.

But farmers are also resilient, and a multidisciplinary team from the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, UGA Cooperative Extension, UGA School of Social Work and UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences is working to help farmers handle the hard times through a number of projects, including the Farmer Stress and Suicide: Community Prevention and Intervention program, all under the umbrella of the Rural Georgia: Growing Stronger initiative.

Supported by interdisciplinary research pre-seed funding from the UGA Office of Research and the Office of the Provost, the team is led by Anna Scheyett, a professor in both the School of Social Work and the CAES Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication.

Gathering data

Scheyett, who has performed previous research on farmer stress and suicide rates, has been working with CAES and UGA Extension staff since 2019 to gather information from farming communities on their stressors, coping mechanisms and knowledge of available resources. Responses indicate that farmers and other members of rural communities know their primary stressors and that stress levels are high, however only about a third said they were confident about knowing what to do if someone they knew were under extreme stress or feeling suicidal.

Most of the primary stressors for farmers are those outside of their control — input prices, commodity prices, labor, weather — and respondents were most likely to depend on close personal relationships for support rather than professionals, Scheyett said.

“Farmers are very independent, very driven and very stoic. When we asked farmers and those who are farmer-associated who they trust — who they would talk to in times of stress — 97% said a spouse,” she added.

Similarly, respondents said they prefer to get their information on support and resources from sources they already trust. As a part of the prevention and intervention program, an initiative in UGA Extension’s Southwest District seeks to capitalize on events that are likely to draw the attendance of farmers and those living in rural areas, such as production meetings.

Held annually by Extension offices all around Georgia, production meetings are an opportunity for growers, producers and other members of the agricultural community to get the latest science-based recommendations from agents, earn required continuing education credits and network, usually over a shared meal.

UGA Extension agents value these opportunities to touch base with the community members they work with and to provide important information about research and resources available through UGA and federal, state and local organizations.

“Farmers get a folder of information from the Rural Georgia: Growing Stronger program that provides information about wellness, health, stress and mental health. We are trying to have that message of physical and mental health as part and parcel of the same thing,” Scheyett said, adding that blood pressure screenings are frequently offered during the meetings, along with information about the link between stress and blood pressure.

The team is also engaged in Mental Health First Aid training with Extension agents to help them get comfortable with those conversations and helping farmers through the question, persuade, refer (QPR) model. Extension is creating resources for agents, such as a pocket guide on how to ask the right questions to gauge how producers and others in the agricultural sector — many of them neighbors and friends — are coping on a day-to-day basis.

“When something happens, like the freeze that affected the south Georgia blueberry crop last year, we are reminding agents not only to talk about the crop, but to ask farmers ‘How are you?’” Scheyett said. “We want to get the message out about stress and what could be done about it. We can’t change the weather or commodity prices or how much diesel is going to cost, but we can help you change the ways you respond to stress so it will not kill you.”