There is a lack of resources to overcome barriers that limit access to mental health care for people involved in the agricultural industry, especially in Missouri’s 99 rural counties.

This has been mentioned in the report, “Growing stress on the farm: The expanding economic and mental health disparities in rural Missouri.”

The report was put together by the Missouri Hospital Association, Missouri Department of Mental Health, Missouri Coalition for Community Behavioral Healthcare, Missouri Farm Bureau and the University of Missouri Extension.

Farmers and ranchers face unique set of external challenges that affect their mental health. The reasons are as follows:

• Extreme weather events, economic pressures and foreign trade policies influence mental health.

• In the 80s, the country faced record production leading to sharp fall in commodity prices. Exports fell because of a grain embargo against the Soviet Union. Farm debt rocketed.

• U.S. economy has experienced quarter-over-quarter growth since the end of the recession in 2008-09. While the agricultural sector went through six periods of recession.

• The report mentions that in the past two decades, the nation has lost more than 16,000 family farms.

These conditions contribute to rural residents experiencing higher rates of depression and suicides than those in urban areas.

The problem is further aggravated due to inaccessibility of mental health care. Mat Reidhead, MHA vice president of research and analytics said that the behavioral health care system has too few assets in rural Missouri to combat these challenges.

Intimacy of small rural communities and the belief that farmers are strong and independent along with the perceived stigma of mental illness discourages people in crisis from seeking care, said Reidhead.

He also mentioned that rural Missouri had less access to mental health care providers and higher rates of stress and depression.

Health Resources and Services Administration notes that all of Missouri’s 99 rural counties face shortages of mental health professionals. Infact, 57 rural counties in the state that have no licensed psychologists or psychiatrists.