Year of mental health finds Wisconsin farmers at the forefront of conversation

MARSHFIELD, Wis. (WSAW) - Gov. Tony Evers has declared 2023 the year of mental health. Farmers and rural communities were the main topics during Gov. Evers’ visit to Marshfield.

He spoke with mental health professionals at the Laird Center for Medical Research about the issue.

Dr. Florence Becot, an Associate Research Scientist for National Farm Medicine, researches the mental health of farmers and has spoken with thousands of them in the past 10 years. She found childcare and insurance costs have been two of the largest stressors impacting their mental health.

Understanding these issues can help leaders address those problems. “Oftentimes we hear ‘oh farmers don’t want to go to the doctor,” said Becot.

However, that’s not the case in Becot’s findings, “They would go to the doctor if it wasn’t so expensive if they weren’t worried about the kind of bills they were going to get.”

One question she asks farmers is, are they concerned about debt if faced with major medical expenses? “What we found is that over half of farmers said ‘yes, we’re concerned that we couldn’t pay for these bills,” said Becot.

Aside from the cost, another concern is access. “There are parts of Wisconsin where if you want to come for a checkup, you might have to travel 45 minutes. when you’re already very busy at the farm, it can be tricky,” said Becot.

The farm economy also has a big impact on a stable future for themselves and their children, according to Becot. Other farmers have said it’s too much stress and they don’t want their children to have to deal with that.

As for Gov. Evers’s $500 million mental health initiative, the goal is to collaborate with researchers to understand and use some of that money to help alleviate some of those stressors. That way those who do want to carry on the family legacy can.

“The two main things that I hope Gov, Evers takes away today is certainly we need to focus on access to mental health care,” said Dr. Julie Kaprelian Psyd., clinical psychologist at Marshfield Children’s Hospital.

Getting behavioral health providers to stay in rural communities is a challenge, but there are some things the government is looking into fixing including loan reimbursement and tax deductions for some healthcare professionals. The goal is to help incentivize healthcare workers to stay in those communities.

Another major struggle for rural communities, farmers in particular, contributing to poor mental health is childcare. Becot said two-thirds of the farmers they surveyed said they had concerns about cost, access, and quality of childcare. They gave examples that directly impacted their farm business, such as having to watch children on the work site which Becot said can be a dangerous environment.

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