Farmers and Suicide

[Kali_Yuga13]

I've come across a strange phenomenon where farmers in the US have significantly higher suicide rates than the rest of the population.

Per this study , "Research by four Cal Poly San Luis Obispo agriculture communication students found that suicide rates in agriculture are five times higher than the national average — and shockingly, even double the rate for military veterans. Among the reasons: net farm income worries (the leading cause), social isolation among farmers, pesticide-induced issues, and the ever-present stigma related to mental health issues in this country."

This pubmed study deep dives into the topic and is vary granular with age, race, gender, economic factors, living area etc.

Without going into the weeds crunching numbers and whatnot, I wonder if simply being closer to nature and the cycle of life takes some of the fear and mystery out of the dying process making it easier to palate suicide as a "practical" decision when the going gets too tough or terminal illness takes hold.

I've done some light working with a small heard of sheep the past couple years and since then three of them have died. There's no mourning amongst the flock, life goes on and they eat their hay. But they are used to one another and a sheep that gets isolated gets a bit nutty. I have heard of horses mourning. In a stable environment they tend to pair up with another and will whinny when separated. It's sort of like BPD and having a favorite person.

I think modern society's careful hiding of the death process enables the stagnant living that ironically leads some to suicidal ideation while simultaneously denying death itself in favor or clinical aliveness to pathological extremes.

 

[Black Sheep One]

Farming sadly sucks. In the fall you plant the crops for next summer. You have no control over the fall rains, winter snow, spring rains, summer thunder/hail storms. You watch, pray, and worry. Machinery is expensive and becoming more complex or impossible to repair. The ladies are not fond of leaving the city so... Farming has become a business. It is like card counting, a set of rules to follow, making it less of a game.

 

[Kali_Yuga13]

Farming sadly sucks. In the fall you plant the crops for next summer. You have no control over the fall rains, winter snow, spring rains, summer thunder/hail storms. You watch, pray, and worry. Machinery is expensive and becoming more complex or impossible to repair. The ladies are not fond of leaving the city so... Farming has become a business. It is like card counting, a set of rules to follow, making it less of a game.

Good point. I have a naïve vision of it being comfy homesteading when the truth is it's more industrialized.