Experts say supporting the mental health of agricultural communities in Illinois has never been more crucial, and they say more sustained solutions are needed.
Amid soaring input costs, labor force uncertainty and extreme weather events, farmers in Illinois are facing stress tied to financial strain, health care costs and family well-being – according to Florence Bicott, an associate professor of agricultural safety and health at Penn State University.
Bicott said family, community and structural pressures are unique and interconnected in agricultural communities, often contributing to higher rates of depression and anxiety. She said farmers are 3.5 times more likely to die by suicide.
“What we know from research around farmers is that there is an atypical progression to suicide,” Bicott said. “Farmers were less likely to have documentation of mental illness, and this is really important, because it means that our ability to detect challenges might be harder.”
Bicott said stigma, isolation and a lack of resources often prevent farmers from seeking help.
Statewide programs such as the Farm Family Resource Initiative and Illinois Extension offer free resources for farmers and their families. Anyone with an urgent need should call or text the suicide crisis hotline at 988 for immediate assistance.
Bicott said concern has grown over the past 15 years about mental health challenges in the agricultural sector. Labor shortages, difficulty attracting and retaining workers, and increased industry consolidation all carry a mental toll, she said.
Because men make up more than 60% of the industry workforce, Bicott said, the well-being of women on farms is often overlooked, despite a high prevalence of mental health issues.
“We don't often talk about it in agriculture, but in a national study that we had conducted, almost half of the people who responded among a group of farmers who had children under 18 had reported that someone in the household had experienced pre- or postpartum depression,” she said.
Bicott said that while there are federal and state programs geared specifically toward farmers, the overall response seems to ebb and flow based on the crisis at hand.
As National Mental Health Awareness Month wraps up, she said there should be proactive investment in fixed resources to better address the ongoing need.
“The reality is that mental health challenges in agriculture are chronic rather than episodic,” Bicott said. “And so how do we build sustainability in the programs that are being developed so that they are there no matter what, so that we don't lose the institutional work that is being done?”
Source: Public News Service
