A Michigan farmer suicide prevention program is at risk because of uncertain state funding, according to the program's director, Remindgon Rice.
The program pays for counseling services for Michigan farmers and their families as well as anyone that works in agriculture. It also provides outreach and education services on mental health for communities, appearing at trade shows, tractor events, and local fairs.
Rice leads also heads a program for the the Michigan State University Extension. He said that the program informs people about warning signals for suicide and how to communicate with someone that may be experiencing these thoughts.
Rice said that there is a good deal of stigma surrounding farmers on mental health issues. “Overwhelmingly, over 80% of farmers have reported that they would hesitate to ask for help,” he said.
Several studies found that farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers were significantly more likely to commit suicide compared to other occupations.
According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, farmers face a variety of challenges, many that are out of their control. This can include extreme weather conditions, disease and pest outbreaks, and the stress of losing a farm that has been in a family for generations.
Farm businesses are often family businesses, and the usually isolated setting combined with a lack of separation between work and personal life can add to emotional burdens. “Most of the calls I get revolve around family relationships,” Rice said.
The job is very physically demanding, especially when the average age of farmers is in the upper 50s to low 60s, Rice said. “Our physical and emotional well-being is so intricately tied together that if you’re in chronic pain, that’s going to impact your mental health.”
Changes to the state budget would force Rice and his team to turn some farmers away from the free counseling services they offer because they would no longer be able to afford them. They would still be able to provide referrals for farmers who want to seek help, but those individuals would have to pay for that care themselves.
“A lot of people working in agriculture don’t have traditional health insurance,” Rice said. “In this industry, many don’t have a traditional source of income or salary," said Rice.
This makes cost a significant barrier in seeking help, which is why the Managing Farm Stress program has been a crucial support system for farmers. “There’s already barriers in finding help, and we didn’t want costs to be another one,” Rice said.
The absence of state funding means that the team performing this outreach and marketing the program will be shrunk down and limited in capacity, according to Rice. Counseling services for farmers will likely have to be on a first come, first serve basis.
But the program has another source of funding through the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. A house bill has been introduced to refund these programs, adjusting for inflation. Rice hopes this will allow for his team to continue their work with farmers across the state.
