Farmer Mental Health: Building Support Before a Crisis
Why can mental health be so difficult to talk about in agriculture?
Farmers are used to solving problems. Broken equipment gets fixed. Markets get managed. Crops get protected. When something needs to be done, you figure it out and keep moving.
But some problems are harder to see—and even harder to talk about.
Sam Goldberg, creator of Perfect Sundays, and Easton Kuboushek, co-founder of Project Farm Dog, join Farm4Profit for an important conversation about farmer mental health, isolation, addiction, suicide, family legacy and what agriculture can do to create support before someone reaches a crisis.
The Pressures Farmers Carry
Farming comes with pressures that can be difficult to separate from everyday life.
Finances, weather, markets, long hours and isolation are only part of it. For many farmers, there's also the responsibility of carrying on land and a family operation that may represent generations of work.
When the farm is more than a job, struggles on the farm can feel deeply personal.
Rather than simply saying farmers need to become more willing to talk about mental health, Sam and Easton challenge agriculture to create better opportunities for those conversations to happen naturally—and earlier.
The goal isn't just getting someone to speak up when they're already in crisis. It's building a culture where talking about stress, addiction, relationships and mental health becomes as normal as talking about markets, equipment or weather.
Telling the Story Through Perfect Sundays
Sam shares the story behind Perfect Sundays, a six-episode fictional drama that grew from conversations he had with farmers following the success of his film Silo.
Again and again, farmers encouraged him to address farmer suicide.
Instead of creating a documentary or educational campaign, Sam chose storytelling.
Perfect Sundays follows a dairy farm family attempting to rebuild after losing its patriarch to suicide. At the center of the story is a mother working to keep the family moving forward while pursuing a value-added ice cream business.
The fictional format allows the series to explore difficult subjects through characters, relationships and experiences that may feel familiar to farm families.
By combining entertainment with authentic agricultural storytelling, Sam hopes people recognize pieces of themselves, their families or their neighbors in the characters—and that those connections lead to conversations that otherwise might never happen.
Sometimes a story can create an opening that statistics can't.
Project Farm Dog: Reaching Farmers Earlier
For Easton, the mission is deeply personal.
He introduces Project Farm Dog, a nonprofit shaped in part by his family's experience losing his father following a long battle with alcoholism.
Project Farm Dog isn't designed to replace crisis resources such as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Instead, its focus is prevention.
The organization aims to reduce stigma, connect farmers with professionals who understand agriculture and help fund care so that cost or insurance doesn't become another reason someone avoids getting help.
Its "trusted ear" concept comes from something many farmers immediately understand: the relationship between a farmer and their farm dog.
A farm dog doesn't judge. It doesn't interrupt. It's simply there.
Even the toughest farmer may say things to that dog while riding in the pickup or working around the farm that they aren't ready to say to another person.
Project Farm Dog wants to help create that same type of trusted connection between farmers and people who can support them.
Prepare Before the Difficult Season
One of the strongest messages from the conversation is the importance of preparing before things become difficult.
Farmers don't wait until harvest starts to think about whether the combine is ready. They make marketing plans, line up labor, service equipment and prepare for the season ahead.
Easton argues that health, wellness and relationships deserve a place on that same checklist.
Who will you call when things aren't going well?
Who is the person you can be completely honest with?
Are there relationships that need attention before the busiest season begins?
Do you know where to turn if you—or someone you care about—needs professional help?
Those questions may not appear on a traditional farm management checklist, but they can be every bit as important.
Making Mental Health Part of Farm Management
There isn't one organization, podcast, family member or mental health professional who can solve farmer mental health alone.
It will take farmers, families, agribusinesses and rural communities working together.
That can start with simple actions: checking on a neighbor, saying a problem out loud, making time for relationships, knowing where resources are available and recognizing when someone may need more support.
Agriculture spends enormous amounts of time preparing for uncertainty.
Mental health deserves that same preparation.
The goal is to build resilience and trusted relationships before the difficult season arrives—and make asking for help a normal part of taking care of the farm and the people who make it run.
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis or considering suicide, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the United States.
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