Courtesy PR Exension Office, who notes: The following article is a reprint with permission from author Dana Jansen, Director, Montana Ag Safety Program from the Summer 2023 issue of the Montana Farm Bureau Spokesman.
Mental health and all of the weight it carries, from depression to anxiety to the ultimate sadness of suicide, remains a grave concern for farmers, ranchers and rural residents. It’s an important topic that needs to be discussed freely, openly and without shame. Any day you look at rural Montana, you know there are folks out there in the trenches, slogging through the thick of it. Farmers and ranchers are a private bunch who have been raised to believe that no matter what the challenge is, setting your jaw, gritting your teeth, and not asking for help because we can “do it ourselves” is the norm. People will often encourage others to talk about their struggles, to open up to a listening ear, and ask for help, but are reluctant to do the same for themselves. EM Tiffany wrote, “I believe that to live and work on a good farm, or to be engaged in other agricultural pursuits, is pleasant as well as challenging; for I know the joys and discomforts of agricultural life and hold an inborn fondness for those associations which, even in hours of discouragement, I cannot deny.”. Those words, whether you recited them as an FFA Greenhand or are reading them for the first time, probably strike a chord with you. It’s true that we love what we do, and we can’t really explain why. Even so, there are times when the discomforts seem to outweigh the joys.
Mental health is just one part of our physical health and helps determine how we handle stress, make healthy choices, and interact with others. Mental health is directly related to our thoughts, feelings, actions and overall well-being. Small amounts of manageable stress can be beneficial, but chronic and unmanageable stress can negatively impact our mental health. Those involved in agriculture often experience significant stress from extreme weather events, natural disasters, fluctuating commodity prices, trade disruptions, difficult family dynamics, isolation, rising interest rates and equipment breakdowns. For farmers and ranchers, being in poor mental health can affect safety on the farm or ranch. During times of significant stress, you may not be paying as much attention to safety as you should. It’s essential to do a double-check on your usual safety precautions, such as taking keys out of the machinery when you’re working on it, not entering grain bins, using caution when backing up machinery and driving mindfully on the county road. It might be the middle of harvest or haying, and work needs to get done, but if you need to take a few moments to decompress, do so. Just like taking time to fix an equipment breakdown, a moment to recuperate can prevent significant issues later.
While one may not have control over many of the most stresses experienced day-to-day, we can control how we respond to them. It is important to recognize the sources of stress and signs that the stress has become too much.
Warning Signs of Stress
- Change in routines
- Decline in the care of livestock or pets
- Change in appearance
- Change in mood
- Increased illness – upper respiratory (cold or flu) or other chronic conditions (aches, persistent cough, migraines)
- Increase in farm accidents
- Decline in appearances (personal or of the farm/ranch)
- Decreased interest
Learning how to manage stress in an appropriate and healthy way is important. There’s no button to push that simply gets rid of our stressors, so resiliency is the only option; but that only addresses one very small portion of our overall mental health. When we start to add in other factors, like mental health disorders, things get much more complicated. Anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Bi-Polar Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and others affect as many as one in five adults in the US. This is a particularly troubling statistic when we consider the lack of resources for diagnosis and support/treatment in our rural communities.
Compounding that is the idea that most problems can be solved if we just “toughen up” and the fear of judgement by trusted friends and family members. That fear often prevents many people from seeking the help they may need. It feels easier in that moment to use drugs or alcohol to cope or to keep those secrets and take them with us when we go. The most important asset to any farm or ranch is you. You are not alone. While no one has been in your exact situation, there are supports in place to help you weather the storm.
Being tough sometimes means asking for help. Tough conversations today can prevent a tragedy tomorrow. For professional help with mental health or special information geared toward farmers and ranchers, visit:
- Counseling Access for Montana Ag: Frontier Psychiatry at frontier.care/ beyondtheweather
- Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988lifeline.org or dial 9-8-8
- Farm Aid Hotline: 1-800-FARM-AID (1-800-327-6243)
- American Farm Bureau’s Farm State of Mind: fb.org/initiative/farm-state-of-mind
- Montana Ag Producer Stress Clearinghouse: montana.edu/extension /wellness/stress-management/ mt_farm_stress _clearing_house/
Addressing mental health ensures fewer farm and ranch accidents, thriving rural communities, and a vibrant heritage for generations to come. For more information regarding the Montana Ag Safety Program or task-specific safety, including the information listed above, visit http://www.mtagrisafety. com or contact Dana Jansen at [email protected] or (406) 850-9978.
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