Ohio’s Got Your Back Campaign Offers Mental Health Resources and Support for Farmers

“I go to a lot of Farm Bureau meetings and talk to a lot of people, and I had noticed that in the past two years, the tone among producers had really changed,” says Nathan Brown, a first-generation farmer and trustee on the state Farm Bureau Board. “With things like commodity prices decreasing, trade wars, and uncontrollable factors like the weather and markets, I went to our policy director and expressed the need to focus on mental health for farmers.” As a farmer with a family and three young kids to feed, Brown understands the pressure. So many farmers feel overwhelmed when things aren’t going well.

“We needed to focus on letting farmers know that there are people out there who love and care for them and that they’re not alone,” Brown says. “I wanted to start letting them know that it’s OK to not be OK.”

Got Your Back

Many within the agricultural community agreed with Brown and from those conversations, the Got Your Back campaign was born. Launched in the fall of 2019, several organizations, including the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA), Ohio Farm Bureau, Ohio Department of Mental health and Addiction Services, and others created the campaign to build awareness and tackle mental health stigmas.

“The site, gotyourbackohio.org, offers resources to identify and deal with farm stress, including where to get help, family support, and training resources for providers, individuals, and communities,” says Ivory Harlow, Ohio Farm Bureau organization director.

Both Harlow and Brown agree that farmers tend to have a harder time expressing their emotions and feel like they can’t talk to loved ones about their feelings.

See more: Mental Health Resources Are Available for Farmers in Need

“No farmer chooses agriculture as a career thinking, ‘This job will be easy, I’ll punch the clock, do my 40 hours and live a comfortable life,’” Harlow says. “Farmers, by nature, are leaders that step up to sacrifice on behalf of something they truly believe in. When facing hardships, farmers often choose to endure rather than talk about their emotions.”

And farmers have more than their fair share of hardships, especially compared to other professions. Per a 2016 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, farmers have a much higher suicide rate than any other occupation. #GotYourBack is trying to change that by letting farmers know they’re not alone.

Specific to Farmers

Since the campaign launched, Brown has seen producers open up more and start to talk about mental hardships, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic was added to the long list of stressors. In the future, he hopes that the effort can grow to be even more specific for farmers.

“I would love to see some mental health professionals who specialize in agriculture,” Brown says.

he also stresses the continued effort of awareness. “There’s just such a stigma around mental health, and we’ve lost people in our community to suicide,” Brown says. “We have to find a way to get to those people and let them know that whatever they’re going through, they’re not alone.”