A new report says Canadian farmers have a much higher rate of stress, depression and anxiety than the general public — something that comes as no surprise to local mental health advocates in the industry.
The report, which says urgent action is needed to address the situation, is a step in the right direction for Gerry Friesen of the Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program — a helping hand to the local ag industry that offers a number of free counselling sessions to farmers and their families.
“I like their approach about looking upstream,” Friesen told Global Winnipeg.
“I think in the past we’ve been reactive to a lot of stressors that farmers are facing, which is good … (but we) need to start dealing with them before they happen.”
Friesen said he’s starting to see more buy-in from provincial and federal governments — “anteing up, as it were,” for farmer wellness initiatives on the financial side of things.
Another major step has been the removal of some of the stigma for people in the farming business around admitting they’re facing mental health challenges.
“I actually have my own personal journey that I’m travelling. It started when I was farming back in 2004. I remember starting to talk publicly about it in 2010, and I’ve seen a significant shift in people accepting what’s going on, being able to talk about it more publicly,” he said.
“That is happening, there’s more and more organizations out there doing their part and building awareness…. Absolutely, there’s a shift happening. I see that in the number of farmers and farm families that are signing on to the Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program.”
Keystone Agricultural Producers president Jill Verwey said acknowledging there’s an issue is key, as is seeing producers help each other out.
“I think you take a lot of the daily stresses for granted. Being part of a large family farming operation, you can benefit from checking in and being aware of the individuals around you … but I think the isolation that a lot of producers are feeling are maybe farmers that don’t have that family that’s around them or neighbours to lean on,” she said.
“Help each other out. This time of year it’s very stressful. You’re looking at the weather forecast on a daily basis and that combined with all of the other pressures and trying to get your crop off certainly adds to that stress and makes maybe our industry unique compared to others.”
Verwey said resources like the Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program are making a world of difference to those in the industry, especially since the people responding on the other end of the phone or computer screen know the struggle first-hand.
“I think having the tools available even to check in on yourself and your fellow producers and be aware of signs, and then be able to take some proactive measures in taking care of yourself mentally so that you continue to do a good job farming.”
According to a University of Guelph professor who was part of the initial research team that surveyed around 1,200 farmers from coast to coast — first in 2015-16 and then a followup five years later — there’s often a perception that certain farm-related stressors are inevitable, which doesn’t need to be the case.
“A lot of the pressures that we seem to think are just inevitable, that will always be there in terms of farmers’ mental health — like the financial pressures, like changing climate, like issues with equity, diversity and inclusion — they don’t have to be inevitable,” Dr. Andria Jones told Global Winnipeg.
“There are some great opportunities that federal and provincial governments can make, that the agriculture community themselves can make, and we as the Canadian public can make to help address some of those upstream concerns so we are taking a proactive and preventative approach.”
Jones said the followup survey saw increases, over a five-year period, in perceived stress, anxiety, depression and even suicidal ideation among the participants.
“When you look at the many stressors that farmers are experiencing, worldwide and here in Canada specifically, unfortunately, it’s not a surprise that we’re hearing those results.”
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