Drought conditions taking a toll on farmers' mental health: 'Feel like you’re a failure'

Farmers across the country are losing money, daily, as we enter year three of a mega drought.

Just months ago, the fields on Cleaton 4-E Farms were full of onion, strawberry and potato seeds, but one bucket of unripe onions was all that survived the drought conditions.

Damon Cleaton, like many other farmers, said his losses are starting to impact his mental health.

"So, this is the remains of our onion crop. We probably planted about 20-30 thousand onions last year and this is all we harvested" Cleaton said.

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Three greenhouses sit on his farm. They typically store the previous season’s harvest, but two of the three are empty.

"This drought really took a toll on us this year. About the middle of June, we shut down," Cleaton said. 

Cleaton now makes most of his profit teaching the community about agriculture. He is one of tens of thousands of farmers losing money daily.

According to Drought.gov, nearly 42% of the continental U.S. is in a drought that began in early 2021.

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The American Farm Bureau Federation says its U.S. farm-level harvest yields will be reduced by 70%.

"It starts bringing in depression, and a lot of other things make you feel like you’re a failure in what you do," Cleaton said. 

Carrie Cochran McClain with the National Rural Health Association says major financial loss coupled with ongoing drought conditions, social isolation and other issues unique to farmers created a mental health crisis in the farming community.

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"Our organization has found that the farmers’ suicide rate is 3.5x more than the general population," McClain said. 

Now farming associations across the U.S. are focusing on providing mental health resources tailored to farmers including a suicide prevention hotline.

"Having somebody that an individual can just call up and talk about what they’re facing and really understand what it’s like to be a farmer in a rural community, and understand not only what a drought might mean, but sort of the rippling affects it can have – it’s a unique set of challenges," McClain said.

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The hotline is already up and running in Texas, but the grant that funds it will eventually end. The Texas Agriculture Department wants $500,000 to keep it running. The state legislature will make the final decision.