Commentary: 'Be the lifeline' to help prevent suicide on the farm

By Tricia Stever Blattler

My husband, Robert, died this past April by suicide. His death was tragic, and unnecessary, and I wish I could say it could have been prevented. But to be honest, I don’t know enough yet about suicide to truly understand the forces that were at play in his mind and body on that fateful morning when he took his life.

What I do know and have come to learn in the six months since he has been gone is this: Suicide continues to be one of the most difficult experiences to navigate as a grieving spouse and also as someone trying to understand the stressors in his life at the time this horrible situation unfolded. 

Robert was a 45-year-old agronomist for a large farming company in the southern San Joaquin Valley. His job involved normal kinds of farm stress, but he struggled with his work life and often held on to stress in an unhealthy way. 

He was also struggling with hypertension, depression and anxiety, and had migraines and vertigo episodes, and required a variety of medications to control his symptoms. When some of those medications quit working, the situation changed rapidly.

I will never know what caused Robert to end his life that Sunday morning. But I can choose to use his tragic death to further illuminate and elevate the conversation around mental health, stress, anxiety and triggers we see in the farming industry. I want his life to be remembered in a way that helps carry a message to others to find help sooner and fight harder to stay alive. 

Farm stress is at an all-time high across the heartland of America. In small farm towns across the country, a rising number of stressors impact farms. And behind those farms are families struggling with immense pressures. These include failing crops, extreme weather, shifting political tides, high interest rates, inflation and production costs that seem to never stop rising. In California, you can add overregulation and a never-ending stream of new legislation and regulations that contribute a tremendous amount of stress and expense to every farmer’s bottom line. It’s the perfect storm for farm stress to skyrocket and suicide risks to increase. 

According to a Pennsylvania State University Extension report, more people die every year from suicide than homicide. From 2000 to 2021, the suicide rate increased by 36% nationwide. In rural America, the suicide rate among farmers is much higher than the national average of 14.1 deaths per 100,000 population. In rural America, is a staggering 43.7 deaths per 100,000. This places farming in the top 10 occupations that suffer an increased rate of death by suicide.

Farm suicides are more isolated and talked little about. Farmers often internalize their struggles, feel hopeless and shameful, and do not seek counseling or care soon enough. While external factors on the farm impact stress behaviors, simply accessing care is a major stressor and one that men probably find even more difficult. Farmers are perhaps more unlikely to pursue treatment and care early. 

I want Robert’s life and his tragic passing to be a reason to take pause and consider this important topic. We all lead lives that seem to have unending pressures and stresses that never get easier. 

Stressors in agriculture are plentiful, and the physical demands of the work can take a heavy toll on a person. Rural access to mental health resources is also usually very limited or nonexistent. For these reasons, we must take more direct action to help when we see someone struggling in our farm community. Reach out early and often and keep reaching out until you see them getting the help they need. 

I want to acknowledge that the farm community has embraced my loss and has been a stalwart supporter of my grief and recovery. Being part of the Farm Bureau community has provided me with pillars of strength, support, friendship and a family that has supported me on the most difficult days. 

That is true of our farm community across America. Farmers are resilient, and each year they risk huge economic certainty to do what they do. I remain touched daily by acts of kindness, compassion and empathy as I go about my work at the Tulare County Farm Bureau. I would pray that in an industry with this level of fight, hardiness and tenacity, we could lift up our neighbors who are struggling most and help them in their greatest times of adversity. Be the lifeline, be that friend, be that neighbor and start the conversation. 

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a national network that provides free and confidential support 24/7. Additionally, PsychologyToday.com is a confidential web tool to find mental health providers and resources in your region.

(Tricia Stever Blattler is the executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau. She may be reached at pstever@tulcofb.org.)