Bloomington, Illinois – Women involved in the agricultural industry should generally experience a triple lifestyle in service that can lead to depression and anxiety.
“Farmers are housewives and they are also committed to agricultural work,” said Cheyanne Dierickx, a partner’s partner of the University of Illinois.
“They often have off -farm careers also to ensure stable income when market prices are unstable and also to guarantee health insurance,” said Dierickx during a presentation at the top of rural mental health 2025, organized by the Southern Illinois University Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development.
“So it is not surprising that there is a higher prevalence of anxiety, depression and psychological stress in women in agriculture,” she said.
Men are no strangers to the stressors of agricultural life and traditional gender roles also have an impact.
“Men have the impression of needing to be the only financial supplier, and if they are not, it can really have an impact on their ego or their masculinity,” said Dierickx.
“Men feel like they need to be hard, not to show emotions and they don’t need help,” she said. “This may have an impact on their ability to ask for help and it presents them at a higher risk of drug addiction and suicide compared to farms.”
There are many stressors of agriculture that are not necessarily applicable to non -agricultural people.
“Agricultural producers have anxiety and depression more often than the general population, which makes sense to know why there are two to five times more likely to die by suicide,” said Dierickx.
A study by Illinois farmers conducted by the U of I found that three out of four farmers said that alcohol consumption in the last three months and around 30% have declared tobacco consumption in the last three months.
“It’s higher than the general population,” said Dierickx.
The opioid crisis is also a problem in rural communities.
“A study by the American Farm Bureau Federation revealed that the opioid crisis had an impact on 74% of farmers and agricultural workers,” said Dierickx.
Not only are agricultural populations more at risk of poor mental health, but she also have more obstacles to receiving treatment.
“These obstacles can be condensed at 4AS-accessibility, availability, affordability and acceptability,” she said.
In response to this, the Illinois mental health program is available for farmers and their families to provide free mental health care.
“It started in partnership with the Illinois Ministry of Agriculture and the objective is to improve mental health for farmers and their families by reducing obstacles to professional mental health care,” said Dierickx.
For the program, approved mental health providers have been recruited throughout the state.
“Whoever is producer, agricultural worker or family member who lives in Illinois is eligible,” said Dierickx. “Once a good one is requested, we initially send them three goods and a supplier’s repertoire and after that, he can ask for more good as long as the funding is available.”
The individual bought the good with any participating supplier.
“Then we directly reimburse the supplier and no evidence of insurance is necessary,” said Dierickx.
This good program has developed considerably in the past three years. In 2022, there were 87 requests and the following year, the requests increased to 126.
“In 2024, we had an increase of 521% of the requests of good people who totaled 783,” said Dierickx.
The U of I extension leads the North Central Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Center which includes a region at 12 states. The objective of this collaboration is to create stress and mental health management resources for agricultural communities.
“We are also working with the development of Illinois who helps farmers with physical disabilities, whether due to aging or injuries so that they can continue to cultivate and maintain their independence,” said Dierickx.
“There are tools that we can provide them to continue to cultivate safely and it goes hand in hand with mental health.”
For more information on the NCFRSAC, go to www.farmstress.org.