Earlier this year, researchers from the University of Arkansas set out to do something that has never been done before: survey farmers and ranchers across the state to assess their mental and physical health.
The result was data from more than 600 farmers and ranchers in 72 of the state's 75 counties, who spoke about what stresses them out and their social relationships.
Don Willis is an assistant professor of human development and family science at the University of Arkansas. Kevin Fitzpatrick is a university professor and Jones Chair in Community at the university. They joined me yesterday in the Bruce and Ann Applegate News Studio Two to discuss this statewide survey.
Fitzpatrick says one thing they did not expect in doing this work, there was no system in place to track down farmers in the state.
Fitzpatrick: When we originally began to imagine what the project would look like, we needed to figure out how can we get access to them? And we thought for sure that between the state ag or cooperative extension or whomever, there'd be a list, there'd be something that we could tag on to. But there wasn't. So yeah, it was a surprise.
And with some digging on both of our parts found that the best way to access them actually was those farmers that had an active pesticide license. And of course that makes up a considerable amount of the farmers in Arkansas, as it would probably across the country. So yeah, it was a big surprise for us.
Moore: One piece of good news from your report is that Arkansas farmers and ranchers reported having strong social support systems. Was that surprising at all?
Willis: When you dig into the data, I don't think it surprised us that there's a strong social support. I mean, being from a rural Arkansas community myself, I knew that these are places where there are strong community ties, where people really do lean on each other and are there not just for social-emotional support, but for real applied, instrumental-type support. You can call on somebody when you need something, and more often than not, they're going to be there for you. So I wasn't surprised by the strong social support finding.
I think one of the findings that did surprise me a little bit was they tend to rate their health pretty well. And one of the things that prompted our interest in this was we know that farmers are going through a hard time right now. We knew that farmers in 2025, farmers in Arkansas led the nation in bankruptcies. And so we expected there might be some areas in their health where we'd see some struggles. And we do find that.
But it was interesting that when they self-rate their health, that picture is not so grim. And so that may have something to do with their perspective on not wanting to complain or not wanting to be perceived as necessarily struggling or needing help.
Moore: Well, let's dig into that mental health portion of this here, because I think that's the thing that is most alarming from this. The data shows that about one in three reported some level of anxiety, and roughly one in six said that at some point in their life, they had thought about ending their own life.
Fitzpatrick: Yeah. And depression also really high. And again, typically this is not the kind of symptomatology you would hear farmers talk about. Certainly not amongst themselves. And I think the real added value for what we've done here in terms of the survey is to better understand some of that maybe undetected felt need in terms of the problems that they're having.
And just to go back on something that I thought that Don said was really, really telling about the social support was that in every one of the papers that we've been working on since this report, focusing primarily on mental health, social support had a significant impact on lowering the overall negative effects in terms of the mental health outcomes. So it is clearly important, whether it's instrumental or expressive support, it's making a difference.
And we just finished a paper on loneliness. And what's really interesting about that is that pretty much looks like a lot of the mental health outcomes. But it was particularly that support was exacerbated when people were married and had partners that were engaged in the farming as well. So it wasn't just the support, but it was the support with partner that was also important.
Moore: In a state like Arkansas, whose No. 1 industry is agriculture, are you concerned that we aren't thinking more about the workers and the people whose lives make it possible for agriculture to be the No. 1 industry in this state?
Willis: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that there is some concern, but I think that we could improve the steps that we're taking to address farmers' health and well-being by making it more data-driven. Now, there are worthwhile and laudable efforts being made through extension and other organizations to provide support for farmers.
But to date, this is the first instance that anyone has taken the time to say, "Let's see what the actual scope and severity is, and let's do it in a systematic and rigorous way," so that when we start to take steps to address our health and well-being, and we can do it in a data-informed manner and hopefully do it the best way possible.
Fitzpatrick: Well, and I think also it's this idea is that it is the rural, it is the backbone of the state. I mean, we are predominantly rural state, and agriculture, No. 1 in rice, No. 3 or so in soybean and cotton. I mean, this is a really critical industry.
And I think one of the takeaways for us on this project has been that having been some of the first data comprehensively to come out on farmers and their health is again reminding us how important it is that we just don't drop it. That we continue to push and to talk to people about how important it is that we continue this kind of data collection so that we can be better about, Don talked about there's a lot of stuff that's downstream. They're trying to intervene in what they think is going on.
But almost anecdotal, without data, it's really hard to design things for upstream. And what can we do to prevent the kind of outcomes that we want to prevent as opposed to intervene in something that's already tragically been happening.
Moore: What happens with this data now that it's been collected?
Willis: That's a very good question.
Well, what we would love to happen is for this to be kind of the impetus for there to be regular checking in on our farmers across the state. That would be our big vision for it. What we've talked about is something similar to other statewide surveys that have focused on other vulnerable populations.
For example, we still collect the PRAMS, the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring survey of pregnant mothers across the state, women that have recently given birth, because we understand that that is a population that deserves and needs additional support, and we should know how we're doing. We should know how moms are doing. I feel like farmers are a similar scenario where like, here's a population that deserves our attention to their health and well-being.
We would love for this to be a regular check-in on farmers. Maybe it's only every couple of years or something, but what we're doing is trying to find some external funding sources that might be a good fit that we could apply for to potentially run that regularly. As of yet, we have not identified the right opportunity. But if anyone hears this and thinks they-
Fitzpatrick: Highly philanthropic farmer.
Moore: Well, I have to wonder. I mean, from a policy standpoint, from a legislative standpoint.
Fitzpatrick: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, we have sent these reports to the federal legislators in the state of Arkansas and some of the candidates who are running for office. We want it to be in front of them. I mean, Sen. Boozman, who chairs the ag committee, needs to see this. I mean, of course it's not a picture of the country, but it's a picture of a critical part of the country and the piece that he represents. So yeah, we are hoping that we gain some momentum.
In addition to that, wanting to develop this continual data source, we also are grinding through this and we'll have papers that I'm sure will be published shortly in our professional journals that I think also will help people understand that Arkansas is at a critical juncture right now. Again, with the financial stress that Don talked about and the kind of climate circumstances that the state is facing and has faced.
I mean, this is a critical, critical point. And we just can't abandon this. We need to continue to push forward and talk more about this to as many people as we can talk to because having that data and continually assessing those folks, I think is really a critical part of keeping our pulse on agriculture in Arkansas.
Willis: Another way to think about this data too, is it's a means for us to say we're willing to be held accountable to our farmers. Without it, we don't know whether their health is getting better or worse. We have a sense from what we hear from our neighbors and our community members, and most of us, in some way or another, are connected to a farmer. If nothing else, through the food on our plate, right?
But without it, we're essentially saying we don't want to be held accountable or we're not willing to be. And there's no way for us as a state to be held accountable to them and their health and well-being without some type of regular assessment of their health and well-being.
Don Willis is an assistant professor of human development and family science at the University of Arkansas. Kevin Fitzpatrick is a university professor and Jones Chair in Community at the university. You can find the report called FARMS: Farmer Adaptation, Resilience and Mental Health Study here.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
