Stress, Suicide Prevention & Real Talk in Agriculture

farmerangelnetwork
4 days ago
2 min read

When Farming Gets Heavy: Let’s Talk About It

This isn’t always an easy topic—but it’s a real one.

Stress in agriculture runs deep. And too often, it goes unspoken until it reaches a breaking point.

Behind the headlines are real farms. Real families. Real people trying to hold it together.

This isn’t just “part of the job”

There’s a difference between a hard season and something heavier.

Chronic stress, depression, and burnout are showing up across agriculture—and they don’t always look obvious.

Sometimes it looks like:

Pulling away from people
Increased frustration or anger
Trouble making decisions
Feeling stuck or hopeless

Why this matters

We’ve talked about rural mental health for years.

But many farmers still:

Don’t feel comfortable asking for help
Don’t see support that fits their reality
Don’t know where to turn

That gap matters.

What’s changing

There are efforts underway to improve access to care and reduce barriers—but change takes time.

Assembly Bill 668, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 123: Expands the mental health providers who may perform an examination to determine whether or not the individual is competent to refuse medication or treatment; and

Allows qualified psychiatric advanced practice registered nurses, in addition to physicians, to conduct mental health competency evaluations to help address backlogs in those competency evaluations, thus reducing delays in court proceedings and protecting patient rights.

Van Orden, Neguse Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Expand Mental Health Access for Farmers

In the meantime, connection matters more than ever.