COLUMBUS, Ohio —  No one ever said that farming was an easy occupation. 

Now there is a source that Ohio farmers can turn to in order to help them keep their farm business afloat, find jobs off the farm, find clinicians to help deal with mounting frustration or despair that might come with running the farm. It’s called the Rural and Farm Stress Task Force.

The Rural and Farm Stress Task Force was formed by the staff of Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CFAES). Within the CFAES are a group of people who can help connect farmers and their families with specialists either within Ohio State University Extension or within the community. Members of this task force will collaborate with Ohio State’s College of Social Work to know how to best respond to individuals who might be in need of emotional support, including knowing which mental health providers those individuals can seek out, regardless of where they live in the state.

 “Nobody wants to be the one in a family to stop farming, especially if it’s been going on for generation after generation,” said Emily Marrison, a member of the task force and an educator with OSU Extension. 

The task force encourages farmers to visit county extension offices where specialists can provide ideas on how to keep farms running or find jobs away from the farm. One member of this task force is Dee Jepsen, co-chair of the task force and state farm safety leader for OSU Extension.

 “Some of the questions that farmers might have are: What do I do if I have nothing in the ground this year? And what skills do I have off the farm?” Jepsen said. “Farmers are so resilient, or they wouldn’t be doing the job they’re doing. Farmers are eternal optimists. You have a bad year, and you look forward to the next year.”

But when the bad years continue to pile up, it can be hard to know where to turn, Jepsen said. She added that one goal of the task force is to guide farmers to existing services and information and find out what other resources are needed.

“For decades, farmers have dealt with weather challenges as well as shifts in markets and prices, and they have persevered,” Jepsen said. “Sometimes with that strong will to persevere comes a resistance to seek help. Farmers are tough. They may not want to talk about their problems. Some might see their struggles to keep their farm viable as a sign of failure, a personal failure. Even just admitting that or asking for help can be challenging, but that can also lead someone closer to a solution.”

Others are helping stressed farmers as well. The Ohio Department of Agriculture launched a campaign called “Farm Stress: We’ve Got Your Back,” where at the ODA’s website one can go and find some very specific resources on dealing with a lot of the challenges that farmers are facing. Those challenges include things like farmer debt, falling commodity prices, weather, depression, anxiety and more.

Monaro Farming Systems (MFS) is a major lender to the nation’s agricultural and rural communities. According to MFS, the top issues facing farmers today are climate change, trade uncertainties between the U.S. and China, depleting reserves of freshwater around the world, the looming food crisis, economic uncertainty in the U.S. depletion of natural resources due to widespread industrial agricultural practices and crippling debt for individual farmers.

“According to one study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, farmers are about one and a half times more likely to die from suicide than the general population,” said Andy Vance, who covers farming issues for various publications. “That same study found that farmer suicides grew 40 percent over the previous 20 years, so basically this century, up 40 percent.”

Vance, who was once the youngest farm broadcasters in the nation when he was named Farm Director at WRFD-AM, said that those in agriculture occupations had the highest suicide rate of all occupations over the period from 1992 to 2010.

“Actually, I think social media for once is playing a positive role in people in the industry actually talking about this and acknowledging that it’s an issue. You’re starting to see more resources available.”

For more information on the Rural and Farm Stress Task Force as well as a list of resources for those in the agriculture community, visit https://u.osu.edu/farmstress/get-help-now/.