Farmers' survey reveals high rates of mental health difficulties

A surveyby researchers at the Ontario Veterinary College at theUniversity of Guelphshowsfarmers are reporting high rates of mental health challenges.

The survey was conducted between September 2015 and January 2016and polledmore than 1,100 farmers from across Canada about issues likestress, anxiety, depression,burnout and resilience.

• Farmers' mental health survey launched by University of Guelph researchers

The survey found about 60 per cent of farmers experienced anxiety at various levels, 35 per cent suffered from depression and 45 per cent had high stress,allhigher than ratesreported bythe general population.

Thenumberswere also about two to four times higher than those reported byfarmers in the U.K and Norway.

Several sources of stress

"We probably don't think about it very often, but when you consider all of the stresses that our farmers are under, these results perhaps aren't that surprising," saidAndriaJones-Bitton, an assistant professor with the department of population medicine at the University ofGuelphand lead researcher on thesurvey project.

She said those stresses include isolation, crop and livestock diseases, inclement and changing weather,shifting economies and significant financial burden.

"They compound on one another and contribute to the issues we're seeing,"Jones-Bitton said.

A second phase of the research will look at tackling mental health stigma amongfarmers, increasing mental health literacyand developing an emergency response model to respond to farmers duringagricultural crisis.

"It's something that we're beginning to pay more attention to," Jones-Bitton said. "And I think it's a good thing."