The Impacts of Suicide Run Deep
Families and communities are affected, and farmers are hit especially hard—but improving access to resources and mental healthcare can reduce the risk of self-harm
A decade later, Jacob Walter still vividly recalls that awful Colorado morning in August 2016.
“I had just returned to college to start my sophomore year,” he said. “I remember waking up early that morning, and I had a bunch of missed phone calls, missed text messages from my sister. I finally got ahold of her, and she let me know that my dad had died by suicide.”
He knew his father, Russell, known as Rusty and just 45 years old, was under a lot of stress managing the ranch—founded by Jacob’s grandfather—with several hundred head of cattle in southeastern Colorado. As the younger Walter was getting in his pickup truck the previous day to head back to Colorado State University in Fort Collins, his dad told him he loved him.
“And he told me that things are never too bad that you can’t get out. That didn’t really resonate, but that’s the last thing my dad ever said to me.”
Walter, now 31, knew how tough life as a rancher could be: No separation between work and family lives, animals to care for 24/7, fences to fix, and constant expenses to pay. He also knew the financial pressures had been building since his grandfather, Alan, had passed away a few years earlier. There is always so much beyond a rancher’s control, from the weather to government policies to the markets, and many are reluctant to acknowledge they could use some help.
Still, he could not have imagined what would happen that day. “Never did I ever think that that was a possibility or something that would become a reality.”
Today, Walter knows all too well the harsh realities of the life his grandfather had chosen in Thatcher, Colorado: The rates of death by suicide among farmers and ranchers are two to five times higher than the rate of the population as a whole, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Walter, who lives in the Colorado town of Fowler (population 1,253 people, according to the 2020 census) now travels a huge swath of American farmland as a wellness coordinator with the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, part of the National Farmers Union.
“I work with farmers and ranchers across Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming, talking about mental health, helping to remove some of the stigma around mental health.” He also develops and provides resources to help farmers and ranchers better deal with the stresses they’re experiencing.
Too often, unaddressed mental health issues turn into self-harm or suicide. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that the number of suicides reported nationwide in 2024, the latest available, rival all-time highs.
“Suicide remains a serious public health issue in this country, but it is one that evidence shows can be addressed and often prevented,” said Kristen Mizzi Angelone, project director of the suicide risk reduction program at The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Pew launched the program in 2021 to research and promote ways to make sure mental health concerns are flagged early, particularly by healthcare providers, and that people get the help they need. While people in different regions, professions, or age groups may face different issues, the bottom line is the same: Preventing suicide starts with identifying people experiencing suicide risk and helping them to access services to work through mental health issues.
Farmers and ranchers face unique issues
Mizzi Angelone acknowledges the challenges agricultural communities face in getting help.
“Farmers and farming communities are in rural and remote areas, so they may not have easy access to mental health providers. They may have to travel a long distance to receive mental healthcare. They may be in communities where talking about mental health challenges or talking about suicidal thoughts or behaviors, may still be stigmatized,” she said.
Suicidal thoughts can turn into action because of a specific event or worsening circumstance, Mizzi Angelone explained. “Maybe loss of their job, a loss of financial stability. We’ve heard stories from these farming communities where something bad happens and suddenly they’re losing the farm that’s been in their family for five generations.”
That creates tremendous stress. “They don’t feel comfortable talking about it because they feel like it is stigmatized,” she said. “But they have this crisis in their lives because farming is an inherently unstable field.”
In addition, people in agriculture often have access to lethal means, such as firearms. “Together these factors contribute to the higher rates of suicide in these communities,” said Mizzi Angelone.
Zippy Duvall is president of the American Farm Bureau Federation; he grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Georgia, where he now raises cattle and poultry. He knows firsthand the pressures farmers and ranchers face. The American Farm Bureau, which represents farmers’ interests nationwide, started a program in 2017 to help farmers and ranchers address mental health challenges and to reduce the stigma associated with seeking help.
“I say this many times over. It’s OK not to be OK, but it’s not OK not to talk about it,” Duvall stressed. “We’ve got to make sure that we break through that stigma and get people to understand that it takes strength to talk about our struggles.”
Duvall said the impacts from suicide run deep. “The ripple effects are serious, not just to a person’s friends and family but all through that community that loved them and depended on them.”
But Walter, Duvall, and Mizzi Angelone agree that steps can be taken—both on the personal and broader societal levels—to help people who may be contemplating suicide.
The American Farm Bureau’s Farm State of Mind campaign, launched in 2017, offers tools for addressing these issues in rural communities, including information, firsthand testimonials and mental health checklists.
Duvall said the program provides resources—such as a peer-to-peer community supported by mental health professionals—to help farmers and ranchers feel more comfortable in seeking help. It also offers access to confidential counseling and financial services as well as stress management resources, all at no cost.
“This is a campaign built by farmers for farmers,” he said. “Farmers can trust it and know when they go to these resources or get involved in one of the peer groups that they are talking with someone who understands what they’re going through.”
Mental health advocates in rural areas have been working to create opportunities for people to socialize and share their stories and concerns, whether at a coffee group that meets regularly, a “dudes’ dinner,” or a pizza-for-producers night.
“The goal is to break the isolation and to give our farmers and ranchers, who might spend all day in the cab of a pickup or on a tractor or out in their fields away from everybody, a chance to come together and find social connection,” Walter said of these gatherings.
Pew is working on parallel issues linked to the ability of healthcare systems to help people who may be having suicidal thoughts. Healthcare providers can play a key role in reducing suicide—research shows that almost half of those who die by suicide visited a healthcare setting in the month before their death.
Mizzi Angelone said that Pew is working on “a multipronged approach to ensuring that the healthcare system is equipped and able to identify and care for people at risk of suicide.”
“We’re really focused on universal suicide screening so that anyone who interacts with a healthcare provider is asked about their suicide risk, just like they would have their blood pressure taken or be asked about their general health history,” Mizzi Angelone said. She emphasized that such screening should be a routine part of healthcare in the United States.
Pew’s work also seeks to ensure that if healthcare providers detect a risk, they can provide or steer people to evidence-based services. For example, they can collaborate on plans to weather a future mental health crisis or give people the tools, such as 988 help lines, counseling, or other services, to turn to for help.
A path forward
The lives of Jacob Walter and his family were forever changed by what happened 10 years ago in August on the family ranch. “I was the third generation to live there. It was a way of life,” he said. “It was an identity.”
What happened to Walter’s family is all too common. He said two other people in his high school class of 31 lost parents to suicide. His family had to sell the ranch in 2019.
Immediately after his father’s death, Walter struggled to find ways to cope with and discuss what had happened. He helped start, and then used, a free counseling service through the Colorado Farm Bureau specifically designed for farmers and ranchers.
Last year, he completed a master’s degree in organizational leadership and this year he joined the Farmers Union team. He understands the strains so many ranchers and farmers feel.
“There’s a lot of generational weight, a lot of pressure of being able to continue on a family legacy,” Walter said. He has seen many try to push through, instead of seeking help.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Resources are available, but people need to be willing to tap into them.
Walter’s work across three states has him covering thousands of miles each year. He focuses on getting people to interact and recognize the shared nature of their experiences, and the chance to work through their difficulties, whether with mental health or finances.
“The work I do is largely focused on social connection, which is one of the biggest preventative measures that we can do,” Walter said.
He is hopeful that farmers and ranchers are becoming more aware of the need to take care of their mental health, that the ever-present willingness to help one another in their work can translate into their private lives as well.
“One of the positive things I’ve seen is more people being willing to talk about mental health and these types of experiences,” Walter said.
Still, in many ways he and others are working to break through long-standing taboos.
“Nobody wants to be the first to talk about it,” Walter said. “But more people are opening up to talk about their experiences, and that can be pretty healing for those families.”
Michael Remez is a longtime reporter. This is his first article for Trust.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or visit 988lifeline.org and click on the chat button.
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