National survey looks to pulse check producer mental health

Farmers and ranchers encouraged to share input

University of Guelph researchers, in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing (CCAW), have launched their third national survey of farmer and rancher mental health. The last two surveys were conducted during turbulent times, and they look to gauge changes in producer mental wellbeing during the current climate.

Professor Andria Jones conducted the first survey in 2016 and then Briana Hagen, the CEO and lead scientist for the CCAW and Shelly Thompson, a UofG PhD candidate, did the follow up survey in 2021.

“Every five years we’re collecting information on the prevalences of mental health, several mental health outcomes and a lot of demographic information so that we can kind of look at trends over time and see how farmers are doing in terms of their mental health,” Hagen says.

Over the last 10 years, farmers and ranchers have faced much uncertainty, in terms of trade, weather and market conditions, to name a few. The survey is a snapshot in time to see how producers are coping with the current agricultural landscape. The last two surveys have included about 1,000 producers and this year, the researchers are hoping they can exceed that number. Indeed, broad participation is essential to ensure the findings reflect the diverse realities of farming and ranching in Canada to help inform future research, program and policy.

“It is so important for producers to be able to take the survey and really help contribute to policy, messaging [and] planning when it comes to services for mental health,” Hagen says.

“We know from the previous two surveys that farmers are experiencing mental health struggles at an increased prevalence compared to all other occupations in Canada. And we really need that information to be able to go to bat for them to make sure that there are available services for them, and we can’t do that if we don’t have the information.”

Indeed, past findings show that farmers and ranchers are experiencing poor mental health outcomes like depression, anxiety and components of burnout at higher rates than the general Canadian population.

“In the second cycle of the survey, there were questions around suicide that were added,” Hagen says. “We found that farmers were twice as likely to be ideating about suicide or thinking that in the last year their life was not worth living or seriously considering taking their own life. So those were extremely concerning statistics.”

In addition, the surveys results reflected that farmers are experiencing chronically high levels of stress. Some of the biggest day-to-day on-farm stressors are uncertainty, financial strain, working with family, transition planning and the perception of a lack of support from the general population, Hagen says. The 2021 survey showed that Albertan respondents used such stress coping strategies as praying or seeking spiritual help, sleeping and eating more or less than usual, blaming self and avoiding others. Relaxing or doing something enjoyable and talking to others were coping strategies farmers in Alberta reported using less than the Canadian general population.

The researchers hope that with increased access to agricultural-specific mental health resources the last couple of years, thanks in part to the first two surveys, the situation has improved. Hagen hopes that this work will allow the research team to continue to push for accessible mental health resources.

“Being able to advocate on behalf of farmers and put in some policy that ensures these services won’t go away is the biggest target for me,” Hagen says.

The survey, which is available in French and English, has a soft deadline of March 31. Producers can be assured that all responses remain completely confidential and no identifying information is collected.