For Some Kentucky Farmers Dealing With Stress Can Be Unbearable. One Group is Working to Give Them Hope

By Jacob Martin

Kentucky farmers are the driving force behind the state’s $8 billion agriculture industry. But for some farmers, the stress and isolation of life on the farm can be overwhelming.

Between 2004 and 2017, there were109 documented cases of Kentucky farmers taking their own lives. According to research by the University of Kentucky, farmers are more than twice as likely to die by suicide than those in the general population. Farmers who are 64 years and older are at the highest risk.

For Kentucky farmers who oversee the nearly 70,000 farms across the commonwealth, factors including financial stress, a lack of access to mental health services, and the inability to get away from a job can contribute to mental health problems.

"24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year”

Tonya Cherry and her family own and operate Cherry Farms, on the border of Allen and Barren counties in southern Kentucky. A normal day for the Cherry’s begins with the sunrise and usually doesn’t end until well past dark.

Tonya Cherry said the success of their operation comes from these long days, which can sometimes stretch to 14 hours a day, with very few days off. It’s different from your standard day job.

“If you have a nine-to-five job, when you come home at 5:30, you really don’t have to think about your job until the next day,” Cherry said. “Farming is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, regardless.”

The Cherrys currently raise USDA-certified beef and pork. In the past, they’ve harvested tobacco, corn, and soybeans. They recently transitioned from a dairy farm to livestock, which was a difficult decision for the family, given their start as dairy farmers. The transition was necessary for the farm to survive, but that decision added to the family’s stress.

Cherry said there were always financial risks when making decisions related to crop harvest. For example, she said their farm could have taken a massive financial hit if they had not recouped their investment on tobacco they sold.

“Whenever we’d go to sell tobacco, you’d worked really hard, you borrowed money all year long, Cherry said. “We’d be out $100,000-$150,000 before we ever took it to sell it. There’s always stress in farming. There’s always a risk.”