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Hard to measure how high farm stress levels are getting

The director of the Minnesota Rural Stress Task Force says it’s difficult to gauge the level of stress farmers are feeling right now. 

Emily Wilmes says decreasing incomes, challenging weather, and trade uncertainties are contributing to mental health concerns among farmers.

“All of these things really compound. So there’s not one single factor that’s to blame, per say. It’s just all of these things really coming to a head at this point in time.”

She tells Brownfield while there’s no one statistic to track rural stress, the rise in farmer suicides is telling.

“The rate is up to twice that (or) even more than the national average. Other things we can look at would be our farmer-lender mediation numbers, the number of farmers going to financial counseling. Those are all up slightly.”

Wilmes says the number of calls to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Farmer and Rural Helpline is another good indicator that farmers are in need of mental health services.

Brownfield interviewed Wilmes Thursday at the Minnesota State Fair.