As farmers face historic headwinds and market hardships, calls to the National Farm Aid Hotline and the Iowa Concern hotline — where farmers can get support in times of mental health crisis or need — are increasing.
This fall, the Iowa Concern hotline saw four to five times the number of calls it had in the same months last year, said Tammy Jacobs, the hotline’s manager.
The Farm Aid hotline is also seeing a change in the urgency of calls.
“We’re seeing more established farmers calling in — people who know how to play the game and how to access programs. They’re calling more often now, because even with all that institutional knowledge, they’re still running into issues for the first time that are more complex and difficult to solve,” said Lori Mercer, a Farm Aid hotline operator. “The system that’s in place is simply letting them down. There’s just no further safety net.”
Research shows farmers die by suicide at least twice as often as people in the general population, so there’s urgency to address the uptick in need.
“It’s a huge issue. I mean, we’ve known at least three families this year whose loved ones died by suicide,” said Emma Yerkey, who’s part of the Ag Chapter of Gray Matters, a monthly meetup for ag producers around the Quad-Cities to talk about their struggles.
Farmers experience a lot of stressors and uncertainty that they can’t control — isolation, weather changes, and financial pressures — along with low access to mental health care in rural areas and stigma that may make them keep their pain to themselves. Market conditions made worse by a trade war and inflation are adding to the stress. Mental health professionals are thinking outside the box to get producers care.
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