Why farmers are choosing to end their own lives

We often romanticize the agrarian lifestyle, waking up to a rooster’s caw and tending to the fields, just as if we were on Green Acres. This is far from the truth about how actual farmers feel. Farmers are choosing to end their lives in overwhelming numbers. This is an often overlooked crisis but one that needs immediate change. While sources might differ on the remedy to this problem we know for sure that agricultural workers need better access to mental health resources. American farming is a long and complex industry with many political undertones. We have a lot of neighbors who can sell produce for a cheaper rate than their American counterparts, as such Farmers work on very low margins. While we might appreciate a drop in price for milk or for produce, it hurts our farmers dearly, as their bottom line gets worse and worse. Many farmers are facing bankruptcy as previous conditions like covid-19 and tariff disputes have only made their jobs harder. These looming financial crises have left farmers with very little options, so many choose to end their own lives. Mary Rickmann, an Iowa dairy farmer was quoted as saying back in 2019 “What do you do when you're up against the wall and you just don’t know which way to turn?”. Her expression of grief at the looming financial crisis she has found herself in is not an isolated one. Mpr News has said, Since covid-19, suicide rates have increased six times over. Between 2014 and 2018 more than 450 farmers decided to take their own lives in the midwestern states of Missouri, Kansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, and North Dakota. In the past to aid this crisis, local governments have set up crisis helplines. These are mobile hotlines that one may call into to recive help. But this action as we have seen does not go far enough. Farmers are still suffering with their mental health. We need additional mental health resources for our farmers. The distant rurality of farmers does not help their circumstances, but putting therapists closer to agricultural hubs might make it easier for farmers to seek help. Furthermore there is something to say about having a face to face discussion about mental health that cannot be recreated over a phone call. People might look at the current access that farmers have to digital mental health resources and chalk them up to be sufficient for our agricultural workers, and might not be in favor of handing over the tax dollars needed to move therapists out into rural areas, but our current system is not working, and farmers will continue to suffer as long as these problems are not addressed.