A farmer hard at work in the field.
A farmer hard at work in the field. Credit: Zoe Schaeffer / Unsplash Credit: Zoe Schaeffer / Unsplash

Harvest… a crucial time for farmers everywhere.

In Canada there is but one crop season, given our climate and short growing season. It is basically a ‘make or break’ time for farmers across the country.

On the prairies, where I was raised, there were certain words that came up often in conversation over the course of a growing season.

Hail, drought, cost-price squeeze… and next year country.

The first words were cause for serious concern, since if one did not impact you today, it could tomorrow. And if hail did not touch your land, then drought surely could. Even during harvest too much rain could ruin a crop, and failing that, an early freeze could do damage. And the cost-price squeeze was always there no matter the climate.

And the final phrase — next year country — was mouthed in an effort to emphasize the normality of uncertainty in the farming community. It also underscored the need for hope and for the bounty or ‘bumper crop’ to come… next year. Even if this year’s crop failed, next year’s would be better.

It is no secret that farming and ranching are considered among the more stressful of occupations. And in recent years the increasing need for mental health supports in the farming community has been widely acknowledged.

September is National Suicide Prevention Month in Canada, and farm suicides in Canada and around the world have been documented over the past several decades. And of course, there are many more that are not. An estimated 225 million farmers around the world struggle with their mental health.

There are a few Canadian reports which have been published in recent years that underscore what happens when individuals and families must live with constant uncertainty.

In January 2019 the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food published its study on the mental health challenges facing Canadian producers. The study titled, Mental Health: A Priority for our Farmers, identified some of the stressors on Canadian farmers, the provincial and federal mental health services available, and options for improving the situation. The report included 10 recommendations ranging from how to deal with cyber-bullying, the need for better internet services, increased mental health counselling services and resources, the need for telephone help lines and e-mental health services, etc.

In November 2022, a study on the impact of COVID-19 on farmers’ stress level and mental health was published titled Mental Health and Substance Use of Farmers in Canada during COVID-19. At least two of the authors of this study helped initiate the creation of the Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing (CCAW). The CCAW was founded in 2022-23 by researchers and mental health professionals wanting to expand access to counselling and resources specifically for people in agriculture.

In May of this year the CCAW received more than  $1 million in funding from the federal Ministry of Agriculture to advance several activities including: to support mental health literacy education for agriculture educators across the country; the development of a mental health toolkit to support the sector in case of catastrophic events; to facilitate the sharing and expansion of national farm mental health strategies and resources in collaboration with the Rural Physicians Society of Canada; and to “organize two national conferences that will enable mental health information sharing with stakeholders from across the sector.”

There is no doubt that mental health issues in the farm community are serious. These issues have existed for a long time, but at least now are receiving some attention. The increase in services and resources is warranted and definitely overdue. The stress farmers are under has deepened along with the loss of family farmers and corporate concentration in the sector.

The mental health crisis in farming requires ‘downstream ‘ solutions, but most importantly it requires ‘upstream’ solutions. What is the cause of the mental health crisis? ‘Downstream’ actions try to deal with the results of the stress which lead to mental health issues.  ‘Upstream’ policies try to deal with what is causing the stress in an effort to actually prevent mental health breakdown.

Without improving the conditions that farmers and farm workers labour under, the stressors that create mental health problems will continue unabated. While studies, counsellors, online resources and conferences are important, if the root causes are not dealt with, mental health issues will persist.

Of all of the reports published recently only one that I know of names and explains the root causes of mental health stressors in the farm community and identifies fundamental solutions clearly.

Published in the fall of 2023 by the Canadian Centre on Policy Alternatives (CCPA) in collaboration with the National Farmers Union, it is titled Field Notes: Looking Upstream at the Farmer Mental Health Crisis in Canada.

The executive summary of the report begins:

“Across Canada, farmers are experiencing declining mental health. Producers have higher rates of stress, depression and anxiety compared with the general population. The issue is so pervasive that it has been described as a mental health crisis. Efforts for improving the crisis have predominantly focused on increasing access to mental health care, providing education and resources… in addition to other efforts. While these efforts are crucial for improving the health and well-being of farmers, they remain focused on the downstream impacts of the problem and as such are inadequate to address the underlying or upstream causes of poor farmer mental health, particularly with regards to economic and financial uncertainty and climate breakdown.”

The report goes on to identify contributors to on-farm stress, and policy actions that should be taken to reduce the burdens.

For example, it notes that over the past 50 years the price of farm inputs has increased almost twice as fast as farm product prices. The result is that farmers’ crops are being sold below the costs of production. And even when the price happens to cover farmers’ costs, after paying all expenses the amount left for living or re-investing in the farm is diminishing with each passing year. And so begins the vicious cycle of “capitalization” — buying more land in the hopes that farming more land will help reduce per acre costs and increase margins…i.e. reduce the cost-price squeeze. But, as noted in the report, buying more land or acres to try to reduce per acre costs leads to more work, more debt… and more anxiety, “as farmers, are in effect, on a treadmill — relentless spurred to run faster and faster.”

The report notes that over the past five decades the margin for farmers (what is left over from the sale of the product or crop once all expenses are paid) has gone from 35 per cent to less than seven per cent.

In 2022 Canadian farm debt was $139 billion, more than double the debt in 2011. In the 1970s the debt-to-income ratio was 3.4. By the early 2000s it was 23, meaning that for every dollar of net income farmers had on average $23 of debt. Today the ratios have moderated as net income has rebounded somewhat, but the overall debt burden remains high.

Note this comment from the report Field Notes:

“…the average interest farmers pay to lenders is roughly equal to what farmers receive through government support programs, meaning that taxpayer money is effectively subsidizing banks and lenders. To manage this increasing debt, 48 per cent of farmers reportedly worked off-farm in 2020 as a means of supplementing their income.”

So where does this cost price squeeze come from?

Enter agri-business and the food barons.

The ETC Group, in a September 2022 report noted that only 25 years ago, the top 10 seed companies owned 46 per cent of the seed market share. By 2022,  two companies, Bayer and Corteva Agroscience,  controlled 40 per cent of the seed market. A column published here on ‘big ag’  examined the report and detailed how concentrated other aspects of the food industry have become. And, in these columns,  the issue of seed rights and who controls seed is also fundamental..

As well land speculation, landgrabbing, coupled with interest rates have driven costs of land out-of-sight. Columns published here on landgrabbing outline why farmers are so stressed as they try to produce food.

The issues facing Canadian farmers and their communities have been growing and accumulating for a long time. As the report Field Notes identifies, upstream policies are needed to confront the growing mental health issues.

Based on its findings, this report makes six recommendations:

  1. Implement policies which enhance economic stability for farmers and farm workers
  2. Continue and enhance supports to farmers transitioning to sustainable farming practices
  3. Include food sovereignty in the federal goals for agriculture
  4. Rebuild rural infrastructure
  5. Address on-going discrimination and violence in the farming sector
  6. Expand access to mental health care for farmers and support existing farm organizations that are providing support, advocacy, and research.

Canadian farmers are not alone in trying to deal with the ‘cost-prize’ squeeze, corporate concentration and the concentration of wealth in the hands of the one percent. And so while September is National Suicide Prevention Month, suicides in farm communities are happening around the world.  September 10 is the International Day of Action Against the WTO and Free Trade Agreements, and this video by la Via Campesina is a stark reminder of why mental health, and policy change go hand-in-hand, La Via Campesina is an advocacy organization which brings together peasant and farm organizations and supporters from around the world.

When we are dealing with agri-business, corporation concentration, and food issues,  make no mistake, we are all peasants!

BW Lois Ross - Version 4 (1)

Lois Ross

Lois L. Ross has spent the past 30 years working in Communications for a variety of non-profit organizations in Canada, including the North-South Institute. Born into a farm family in southern Saskatchewan,...