Ohio Agricultural Mental Health Alliance releases results of first farm stress survey

By Matt Reese and OSU CFAES staff

It is no secret that agriculture can be a very physically and emotionally stressful profession and, even more than usual, Ohio agriculture has had a particularly stressful 2024. 

Ty Higgins, with Ohio Farm Bureau, is concerned about the stress levels this fall for farmers as harvest continues.

“I don’t think I’ve seen stress levels this high in agriculture in quite some time. You look at what’s happening with the drought and what’s happening with commodity prices, there’s just not a lot of good things happening in agriculture right now. The fact that we’ve been worried about mental health over the past 5 years in particular is something we’ve been able to bring to the forefront, but it’s nothing new. I remember growing up in the mid 80s. Farm stress and mental health was talked about then — it was talked about in whispers. We didn’t talk about it out loud, but we really have turned up the volume on this topic over the last 5 years,” Higgins said.… Continue reading