Utah Farmers Face Struggle to Get Mental Health Help
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Money for a federally funded therapy program for Utah farmers has dried up, and farmers are left asking who, if anyone, will pay for their mental health care going forward.
The offer to receive free therapy was so popular among farmers in the state that providers had to start turning people away when the program began in 2023.
"We need to find a solution, to bring [therapy] back and bring it back permanently, because we were able to see how bad the need was, Josh Dallin, Bastian Agricultural Center Director at Utah State University Extension, told Newsweek.
Four months later, the one-off grant for the program had run out of money, which was much sooner than projected, and Utah's farmers have been left without the therapy resources that were providing real benefits to their community, as reported by the Salt Lake Tribune and ProPublica's Local Reporting Network.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox has been contacted for comment via email.
Main: The "Welcome to Utah" sign is shown Friday, April 10, 2020, in Salt Lake City. Inset: A field of large rolled bales of hay, also known as round bales, for feeding livestock in Mapleton,...
Main: The "Welcome to Utah" sign is shown Friday, April 10, 2020, in Salt Lake City. Inset: A field of large rolled bales of hay, also known as round bales, for feeding livestock in Mapleton, Utah. More
Main: Rick Bowmer, Inset: Jon G. Fuller/Main: AP Photo, Inset: VWPics via AP Images
Why It Matters
Suicide is 3.5 times more likely to kill farmers than other members of the U.S. population, making farmers much-needed recipients of good, affordable therapy.
Utah already has one of the nation's highest suicide rates, and farmers are the third most likely professionals to take their own lives in the state, behind miners and construction workers.
What To Know
Funding was put aside for Utah farmers from a one-time 2023 Congressional funding package for farmers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic created increased demands on the farming community, who already carry the burden of fluctuating weather and markets, long strenuous workdays, and contamination outbreaks.
Josh Dallin, Bastian Agricultural Center Director at Utah State University Extension, explained to Newsweek that in his daily interactions with farmers and their families, he heard countless stories of people fearing for a loved one's life due to their ongoing mental distress.
"When you think about it, farmers and ranchers, they don't have any control over anything," said Dallin. "They don't have control over commodity prices. They don't have control over the weather. They don't have control over so many things, water [for example].
"We live in the second driest state in the United States, so if our reservoirs don't fill and don't have enough water, a crop may fail, and that's so much stress and pressure that's put on a farm and ranching family."
Dried cracked mud visible at the Antelope Island Marina due to low water levels, Aug. 31, 2022, on the Great Salt Lake, near Syracuse, Utah.
Dried cracked mud visible at the Antelope Island Marina due to low water levels, Aug. 31, 2022, on the Great Salt Lake, near Syracuse, Utah.
Rick Bowmer, File/AP Photo
Farmers have also said their mental health burdens pile up as a result of their demanding work. Mitch Hancock, who lost his father-in-law to suicide, told the Salt Lake Tribune that he felt unable to grieve for him as he immediately inherited the farm and had to go straight into harvesting season.
The $28 million package included the opportunity for states to apply for up to half a million dollars for mental health programs, including training, hotlines, and therapy.
This is when Dallin found himself with the opportunity to give out $2,000 vouchers to agricultural workers in Utah.
He did not expect people to take him up on the offer, as, per Dallin's analysis, farmers have been struck in the zone of the "Wild West," where they "are supposed to be tough. And they're supposed to just kind of pull up their bootstraps and go to work."
But behind the scenes, the stigma behind getting help for their mental health was starting to wear on them, and when the offer opened up, Dallin was "thrilled" by how many people signed up for free therapy.
The program became so popular that the money ran out much faster than anticipated. And, being a one-time injection of cash, Utah farmers no longer have access to free state therapy.
The key to de-stigmatizing therapy, said Dallin, was framing mental health struggles as a community, not a personal issue.
He explained to Newsweek that when mental health help was packaged to farmers as looking out for friends and neighbors, then farmers and ranchers were more willing to engage in mental health dialogues.
Additionally, he brought conversations about mental health to existing seminars. For example, someone going to a cattle farming talk could also attend a talk about therapy within the farming community, which helped to normalize those sorts of conversations.
Dallin does not know exactly who received therapy due to HIPAA laws, but he told Newsweek how one recipient wrote to his office saying the program saved his life.
He saw that removing cost barriers for mental health treatment was having a real impact on the lives of agricultural workers.
Now, said Dallin, "we need to find a solution, to bring [therapy] back and bring it back permanently, because we were able to see how bad the need was."
Although other states that also benefited from this program have turned to alternative sources of funding, such as private donors and state funds, in order to maintain their therapy programs, Utah has not.
Governor Spencer Cox, a former farmer himself, has called for an improvement in mental health resources in the past, but did not respond for comment when contacted by the Salt Lake Tribune about reinstating the therapy program.
Utah State Senator Scott Sandall told the Salt Lake Tribune that he feels as though the Congressional funds were set up poorly. However, he does not think the state would support a farmers' therapy program, as other professions would then demand their own programs as well, creating a "battle for funding."
Farmers are now under even more pressure due to policy decisions made by the Trump administration.
Soy farmer Caleb Ragland wrote an article for The Free Press in April begging the President to end the trade war with China, stating that he is feeling the pain from reciprocal tariffs, and that the trade war is a "gamble with American livelihoods, especially for farmers."
President Donald Trump acknowledged in his March address to Congress that farmers will feel "a little bit of an adjustment period" due to his policies.
A tractor pulling a hay rake rakes rows of mown hay into larger windrows for baling on a ranch near Moab, Utah.
A tractor pulling a hay rake rakes rows of mown hay into larger windrows for baling on a ranch near Moab, Utah.
Jon G. Fuller/VWPics via AP Images
What People Are Saying
Josh Dallin told Newsweek: "They are the people that put food on the table. You know, food doesn't come from the grocery store. It comes from the people that are working hard every day and every night to produce them, and against all the odds...and I think it's important that the world understands the toil and the and and also the grit and all the things that have to go into what these amazing people do for all of us.
"It's important that we give them all of the support and the resources and the things that they need so that they can continue to do what they do, which in turn helps us."
State Senator Scott Sandall told The Salt Lake Tribune: "Whether they're a mechanic, or whether they're a school teacher, or a doctor, or someone in agriculture, I just think it would be a little hard to start separating out and creating just mental health programs for individual industries."
What Happens Next
Utah State University Extension is no longer able to provide direct therapy for farmers but is running awareness campaigns on mental health care for farmers alongside the University of Utah.
The universities are working together to disseminate information on the signs and symptoms of depression and how and where to get help.
If you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
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