When the love of farming isn't enough: Chronic stress triggering mental health conditions
This article was first published in Progressive Dairy magazine.
In 2022, Sam Rossier of Sunday Bell Farm in Danville, Vermont, realized what he mistook as burnout was actually depression. Photo credit: Sam Rossier.
Being a farmer isn't just a job. It's an identity and a lifelong love. Even when stressors like natural disasters, labor shortages, and shrinking profits continue to pile up, farmers push on. The possibility of doing anything else seems unimaginable, but loving the job isn't enough anymore, and many farmers are reaching their mental breaking point.
For Sam Rossier of Sunday Bell Farm in Danville, Vermont, it showed up as anger last summer. He works two jobs, like the 82 percent of U.S. farmers who rely on off-farm income to survive. It became too much.
"In general, I love what I do, and I'm happy," Rossier said, "And then, once in a while, you snap and have these fits of rage, and it's like, where did that come from? It's not healthy. It's dangerous."
Rossier was having trouble focusing on simple tasks because he was so distracted by his thoughts. He later learned anger is a less commonly known symptom of depression.
"Mental health wasn't on my radar that much…I have family members that have wrestled with depression a lot. And now I see I have those same issues and can relate. So, that's been a wakeup call for me," Rossier recalled.
Though farming is often romanticized as an idyllic job, the reality is far from it. Stresses come at farmers from all sides – be it the unpredictability of their crop yields due to climate change and extreme weather or the volatility of the price they’re paid for their products.
Abbie Corse of Corse Farm Dairy in Whitingham, Vermont. Photo credit: Arielle Thomas Photography.
Dairy farmer Abbie Corse has lived with depression for over a decade and has used several tools to manage it, including therapy. She says the pressures of farming and the lack of societal support structures for farmers make it challenging to prioritize mental wellness.
Last winter, for Abbie Corse of the Corse Farm Dairy in Whitingham, Vermont, a perfect storm of issues triggered one of the worst depressive episodes she'd experienced in over a decade. Corse was diagnosed with major depressive disorder in her mid-twenties, and she's learned to manage it for the past 15 years. Though, it became more challenging through a recent labor shortage and the Vermont organic dairy crisis.
“People do their best work when they’re well, and we have so many systems right now that do not allow for people to be well,” Corse shared.
Of her most recent depression, Corse said, "Everything, like running a comb through your hair or having the energy to get in the shower, everything becomes work. And that sounds ridiculous…unless you’ve lived with depression.”
Corse says it's ironic because her life as a farmer, primarily the connection to nature and family, has been one of the biggest things that's kept her mentally well over the years.
"What happens when you literally have a brain that robs you of the ability to do what you love?" Corse reflected. "There was so much guilt because I couldn't do all the work that needed doing. On a farm, if you don't do the work, there's no one to pick it up."
A shared mindset among Corse and her family that prioritizes mental health as much as physical health has been critical to her healing.
“We cannot be the best farmers, produce the best food, and steward our land in the best ways if we are not well and whole as people. Mental health is just as important as physical health when thinking about how you're going to stay farming,” Corse shared.
Abbie Corse (far right) and her parents Leon (left) and Linda (center) Corse operate the Corse Farm Dairy together. Abbie says her parent’s emphasis on prioritizing mental health has helped her to continue farming. Photo credit: Joe Wallace.
More Farmers Seeking Therapy While in Crisis Mode
The pressure to keep farming against all odds is one of the many reasons why Lauren Van Ewyk, one of the founders of the National Farmer Mental Health Alliance (NFMHA), is seeing more farmers in crisis mode.
"The number of farmers who are accessing mental health services is going up, which is a good sign that farmers are starting to say, you know what, I'm going to get some therapy because I can't quite figure this out." Van Ewyk said. "Yet, one of the situations we still face is by the time farmers come for counseling; they are typically in more of a crisis place. I'm glad, as a farmer, that we're reaching out. I wish we were doing it earlier."
NFMHA provides mental health services to the ag industry in the U.S. and Canada. Van Ewyk owns a small sheep farm with her husband and is also a clinical social worker and therapist. More than half of her clients work in agriculture. She says farmers are, by nature, "fixers." They fix everything from broken equipment to depleted soils and animal injuries, yet fixing their minds falls by the wayside.
“We don't leave our equipment not getting tuned up for years, hoping it will just keep working. We give it maintenance all the time. We need to apply that to our mental wellness," Van Ewyk said. "What I call on farmers to do is to open up that door and apply your skills in resilience to mental health. The most common thing with farmers is lifting the rug, sweeping the gunk underneath, and hoping somehow, magically, it will all go away."
Van Ewyk says if you don't feel like yourself for several weeks, it's a good sign you should prioritize your mental health. A mental health problem can look different for everyone, and some warning signs include disrupted sleep, irritability or mood swings, loss of joy, change in appetite, worsening physical symptoms (like headaches or rapid heart rate), and low energy.
"One of the other things we see in farmers is chronic stress. And our dairy farmers in the U.S. have been under this for some time," Van Ewyk said, “It can quickly lead to feelings of hopelessness and helplessness.”
Lauren Van Ewyk, is one of the founders of the National Farmer Mental Health Alliance (NFMHA), a sheep farmer, a clinical social worker, a therapist, and an advocate for what NFMHA has coined Agriculturally-Informed Therapy. Photo courtesy of Lauren Van Ewyk.
Breaking Down Barriers to Therapy with Agriculturally Informed Care
As more farmers turn to therapy; another set of challenges has arisen. Nearly 50 percent of farmers/farm workers say it is difficult to access a therapist or counselor in their local community, according to an American Farm Bureau Federation survey. The same survey revealed many barriers to getting treatment for a mental health condition, including the cost of help or treatment (87%), embarrassment (70%), and awareness of mental health (65%).
That's why organizations like NFMHA are working to create a network of therapists that can address the unique concerns of farmers. NFMHA offers a training program for health professionals called Ag-Informed Therapy. The goal is to create a network of therapists in every U.S. state and Canadian province that understand how farming is tied to identity.
"As farmers, we tattoo across our forehead that we're a farmer, and that's our identity. The reality is, is we're so much more," Van Ewyk said.
Van Ewyk hopes that with ag-informed therapists, eventually, more insurance companies would be willing to cover the cost for farmers. The cost of therapy can range between $100 and $200 per session, according to Psychology Today. Currently, insurance carriers aren’t required to provide mental health benefits. While some do, including the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, not all therapists accept insurance, leaving even farmers with coverage challenged to find a provider.
Sam Rossier of Sunday Bell Farm in Danville, Vermont recently became a peer support resource for farmers in Vermont through the Farm First Peer Network. The program aims to make talking about mental health more accessible for farmers who may be more inclined to speak to another farmer than a therapist. Photos courtesy of Sam Rossier.
Some State Programs Offer Free Ag-Based Therapy to Farmers
After burning himself out during the busy summer season working on his farm and at his desk job as an engineer, Rossier started looking for therapy. Yet, it wasn’t covered by his insurance, and he couldn’t afford it. Unexpectedly, help came in the form of a flyer in the mail. The Farm First program in Vermont, funded by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and the Vermont Agency of Human Services, offers 12 free therapy sessions for farmers.
Increasingly more state programs for farmer mental health are popping up. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture designated $7.8 million for the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN) to fund projects that would expand mental health resources to farmers across the U.S.
Rossier has been going to therapy once a week for about six months. He says he now views his life as a scale with challenges on one side and mental health on the other.
"All this weight builds up, but then you can actually balance that back out if you can find ways to mitigate your stress," Rossier said. "I want to be able to farm. I realized I needed more tools to figure out how to cope. Financially and mentally."
Sam Rossier of Sunday Bell Farm in Danville, Vermont. Photo courtesy of Sam Rossier.
Rossier has since joined the Farm First Farmer Peer Network to help other farmers. Launched in February, it's a group of 25 Vermont farmers trained in listening skills, problem-solving, and resiliency-building available to help other farmers get through the rough spots. It's funded by a $500,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant.
"Farming can be extremely isolating. You get stuck in your own loop. You're doing your own thing. It's tough to leave the farm, so it’s helpful to talk to other farmers because it puts your problems in perspective," Rossier said.
For Corse, therapy was part of her routine for many years. As she gained coping skills, she’s been able to transition to maintaining her mental health with a balance of anti-depressants and craniosacral therapy. Yet, she says the stresses of farming and the lack of societal support structures make it challenging to stave off depression, with devastating consequences.
“When you have a chronic illness, you create systems to try to keep yourself well and start to understand the signs when you're not well, and you have to stop it before it gets away from you,” Corse shared. “Because you can die. That is the purpose of that disease. That is the truth. My brain will try to kill me if I do not take those medications. If I do not take a vacation. If I do not get sunshine. If I do not keep up with my appointments. It won’t win. I will fight it at every turn, but that is what it is trying to do.”
Abbie Corse of the Corse Farm Dairy in Whitingham, Vermont. Photo credit: Arielle Thomas Photography.
Reaching Out for Help
As more farmers grapple with what it means to prioritize their mental health, farmers who have been on the same path want others to know they're not alone.
"Mental health is probably one of the largest challenges we face as farmers. At the same time, it's one of the only challenges that we can actually control. Even though it might seem insurmountable, you really are the only one that can take steps to change your mental state," Rossier shared.
Corse says she tries to remember that to feel love for her job, do her best work, and be present for her family and friends, she has to find a way to prioritize mental wellness, even in a society that puts an incredible amount of pressure on farmers.
“What is really terrifying to me is that when you think about the intersection of mental health and farming, we are not setting up our farmers for well-being and wholeness as people,” Corse said. “Farmers matter. They're a critical component of soil health, climate resilience, animal health, our food system, our communities, and our families. We all need them to be well."
Get Support
If you're in crisis or feeling suicidal, call 988 or go to your local emergency department. A directory of mental health resources for farmers by state is available online from American Farm Bureau atwww.FB.org/initiative/farm-state-of-mind.
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Laura Hardie shares stories about rural mental health. Follow along on Instagram and Medium to stay in touch.
