AFBF Mental Health Survey

Mental Health in agriculture is gaining more attention than it has in years past, mostly due to the impacts of COVID-19 on farmers and farm workers. A recent American Farm Bureau report on mental health has shed some light on the impact of the pandemic. From a report also done on the subject from Tim Hammerich, here is Ray Atkinson, the Director of Communications at American Farm Bureau who works on identifying farmer mental health issues.

"It was partly comparing 2019 [survey results] so we got to see those trends. And then of course the more recent trends. I think the headline point was that 2 in 3 farmers/farmworkers said that the Cpvid-19 pandemic impacted their mental health. A really interesting finding was that the percentage of farmers and farmworkers that said social isolation impacted that mental health increase 22% since we did the survey in April 2019."

Here are some key findings from the survey which included 2,000 rural individuals:

- Two in three farmers/farmworkers (66%) say the pandemic has impacted their mental health.

- Rural adults were split on COVID-19’s impact. Half of rural adults (53%) say the pandemic has impacted their mental health at least some, while 44% say it has not impacted their mental health much or at all.

- Half of rural adults (52%) aged 18-34 say they have thought more about their mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, more than other age groups.

- Three in five rural adults (61%) say the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted mental health in rural communities. Farmers/farmworkers were more likely than rural adults to say COVID-19 has impacted mental health in rural communities a lot (37% vs. 22%).

If you or someone you know is struggling emotionally or has concerns about their mental health, visit the Farm State of Mind website at [farmstateofmind.org](http://farmstateofmind.org/)