AgriLife Extension, Texas A&M Health initiative helps farmers and ranchers confront stigma, access barriers and stress
Free counseling and stress management support are available to Texas agricultural producers and their families through FarmHope, a collaborative effort of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the Texas A&M Health Telehealth Institute.
Farmers and ranchers face some of the highest rates of anxiety, depression, substance use and suicide in the nation. Yet many rural residents struggle to access care due to distance from providers, workforce shortages, limited available services and persistent stigma.
Much of the stress comes from uncertainty about things out of their control, such as the weather and negative changes in market conditions. And, for families with generational farms and ranches, there’s a pressure to continue that legacy.
Recognizing and Addressing A Need
To bridge that gap, Miquela Smith, AgriLife Extension health program specialist in the Disaster Assessment and Recovery unit, Lubbock, and Tiffany Lashmet, J.D., AgriLife Extension agricultural law specialist and professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Amarillo, and Carly McCord, Ph.D., Texas A&M Telehealth Institute director and Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine clinical associate professor, Bryan-College Station, created FarmHope.
FarmHope merges farm and ranch estate planning education with free, high-quality telehealth counseling delivered by licensed clinicians who understand the stressors of agriculture. Services are no-cost and available to any ag producer, ag worker or family member living in Texas – no insurance or referrals required.
“We are not just addressing this because it has been labeled as a crisis in rural America; it’s more than that,” Lashmet said. “We know people who have struggled. We’ve seen the outcomes of when people get help, and when they don’t.”
Texas consistently ranks among the lowest states in mental health care access, despite it being one of the nation’s top agricultural producers and farming and ranching being a notably high-stress occupation.
“Farming and ranching come with more stress than most people ever see,” McCord said. “In our rural communities, that stress gets magnified by long distances, few providers, and the stigma that keeps too many people just stay silent. That’s why this has become a real mental health crisis — and why telehealth and FarmHope matter so much. We’re bringing care to people where they are, in ways that actually work for them.”
Driving the stress on the farm and ranch
According to the Rural Health Information Hub, in any given year, one in four adults residing in rural areas face mental health concerns, many due to stresses caused by the financial complexity of the agriculture industry, economic pressure and uncertainty, generational legacy and family dynamics, and fear of farm loss.
“So many of the factors affecting their lives and livelihoods are beyond their control,” Lashmet said. “That uncertainty can take a tremendous toll on their mental health.”
